What It's Like When Worlds Collide
by Totschafe
Summary: Zexion and Marluxia, an unlikely pair, are forced to go on a mission to other worlds. Will they compromise their differences or will the mission end in disaster? Hilarity, drama, romance, shape-shifting coats, and lemurs occur. ZekuMaru
1. Mission

Yay! My first KH fanfic! Anywho, I'm a pretty big ZekuMaru fan and I was inspired to write by my friend QuarantineVirus (READ HER STUFF! ISH GOOD!) and so here it is!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kingdom Hearts I/II. They belong to Square Enix, Buena Vista Games, and of course, Disney. If I owned them, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction, it would be fan-truth.

Oh, and some of the worlds I'm planning to put in here are from movies some people may not have watched, or some places you didn't think came from Disney movies, so see if you can figure 'em out. 8D

* * *

"This is a bad idea Superior," Saïx said, flipping the ends of his silvery-blue hair. Xemnas sat in front of him, his elbows propped up on his desk and his hands folded before his mouth as though in a contemplative prayer. The Diviner grumbled and turned around, flipping one hand in the air in a very Demyx-like fashion while pacing. "Those two already don't get along. What makes you think that they would be able to get along for _that_ long?"

"Silence VII, your words are surprisingly disrespectful," the Superior muttered, closing his eyes in obvious irritation.

Saïx turned quickly and bowed his head. "I'm very sorry Superior. Forgive me for questioning you."

"You're forgiven," Xemnas replied, flicking some of his fingers as though to dismiss the Diviner's disrespect. "However, I would like to seek your opinion as to why this plan would not go through."

"Superior, VI and XI are at two opposite ends of the spectrum. VI, as you know, is a genius, but he is cold and contemplative. XI is too exuberant and far too outgoing for VI. There is no way they could complete a mission completely without causing problems not only for themselves, but for the rest of the Organization as well."

Xemnas was silent for a moment before opening his eyes and examining his folded hands. "Saïx, wouldn't you think that possibly, the two would balance each other out? Both have their strong points and personally, I believe their powers and abilities would complement each other."

Saïx lowered his head and grimaced quickly before composing himself. "Superior, you already know XI's motives, don't you?"

Xemnas's molten eyes flickered up to Saïx and he smiled maliciously. "Come now VII, you don't think I would notice? He's almost made it obvious what his plans are. Moreover, who better to thwart his plans than one of the more loyal members? VI is a quick thinker. He will be able to catch on to XI's plans and should there be a great enough catalyst, I won't have to worry about eliminating XI myself."

There was a pause before Saïx began laughing darkly. "Nevermind Superior, my thoughts were not in the place they should be. I suppose this plan will work."

"Good," Xemnas said, his own voice tainted with laughter. "Now bring the two here in an hour. I must sort the missions out."

Saïx bowed deeply, still smiling virulently. "As you wish Superior."

* * *

Zexion sat in the library, his fingers nimbly turning the pages of a book about herbs. Vexen had requested he would gather information about certain potentially dangerous herbs as so the Academic could begin work on new creations capable of destroying entire legions of Heartless just by natural means. It wasn't something Zexion looked forward to researching, but he supposed it was for the best. Besides, he was running out of reading material in the library and had never touched the herbal books before.

Unfortunately, he knew the source Vexen would have to turn to for gathering said herbs. Marluxia, the flowery Assassin whom Zexion certainly could not fraternize with. As long as it was Vexen speaking to the neophyte, Zexion would be content. That thought satisfied him enough to keep him reading for the Academic's sake.

He skimmed through several chapters and occasionally scribbled down notes, his cerulean eyes flicking back and forth from the pages of the book to the small pile of notes he had started. '_Milkweed root,_' he scribbled. '_Potentially dangerous and fatal to small and medium-sized animals_.' For a moment, he paused to look at his notes and sighed. Of course, Zexion was never one to take breaks, but for once, he decided the time seemed right for one.

He stuck a small sliver of paper in between the pages of the herb book to save his place before getting up and stretching out. Being hunched over a book for hours on end was never pleasant on one's back, despite being a powerful Nobody. After stretching himself out to satisfaction, he walked through some of the aisles of books, glancing over titles he had probably already read. One shelf was completely filled with binders he had composed, made out of hand-written notes and sketches. No one ever bothered to look at those other than Superior, so Zexion could only question why they would be in the library.

For several more minutes, he continued filtering through the nearly endless supply of books before pausing in front of one shelf. Among the hundreds of books was a small section he hadn't seen beforehand, or so he thought. Three dark-purple leather-bound books sat together, each sporting illuminated gold lettering on their spines, titled Known Worlds, followed by their volume number. Zexion pulled the first volume out and opened it, glancing with half-interest at the pages. Suddenly, something caught his interest. Within the book were sketches and paragraphs about all the different worlds, some of which he had never heard of.

Without hesitation, the Schemer pulled the other two volumes out of the bookshelf and eagerly carried them back to his table, ignoring their seemingly immense weight. He stacked them on top of the table and picked up the first volume again, sitting down and going through its pages again. He recognized some of the worlds, more of the nearby ones than anything. However, there were worlds he didn't recognize, each with strange descriptions and images. Places like 'Treasure Planet', or 'Devil's Bayou', or 'Notre Dame', or 'Prydain', they were all very strange to him.

As he began to get into the different stories about all the different worlds, the door to the library opened. Zexion instantly shut the book and looked up at the intruder. Saïx walked in, glancing around the library before finally resting his cat-like eyes on Zexion, a smirk playing on his face. "It's amusing that I no longer have to look in your room to find you VI."

"Am I just that predictable VII?" Zexion asked, keeping his cold blue stare trained on the Diviner.

"Indeed VI. Of course, I do not come here without news for you."

"I figured as much," Zexion responded with boredom.

"Superior wants to see you," Saïx said as though it was a great honor to even speak of Xemnas.

Zexion refrained from rolling his eyes at Xemnas's brown-noser. "Of course. It would be my pleasure to speak with him," he said in a monotone voice. This wasn't the only time he felt as though the entire Organization ran on a script. He said the same exact statement every time he was commanded to meet with the Superior.

Saïx nodded and turned to leave, but turned his head back while grinning. "Oh, and XI is already there, so please be on your best behavior."

"I'd be _thrilled_ to," Zexion muttered sarcastically, not even attempting to mask his distaste for the Assassin. Saïx chuckled before summoning a portal and disappearing into it with Zexion following behind him.

* * *

Zexion walked through the dark portal and ended in Xemnas's office, a room that was nearly pristine with all the white furniture and décor. Marluxia was already standing in front of the desk, his hands folded behind his back and switching his weight from one foot to the other. He turned to the Schemer as he entered and smiled. "Hey there Zexy," he said brightly.

"Good afternoon XI," Zexion said coldly, feeling it was unnecessary to bother with pleasantries with the neophyte but ultimately catering to his more polite side.

"And good afternoon to the both of you," said Xemnas, walking through a portal and straightening the sleeves of his coat. He took a seat behind his desk and folded his hands before him, looking at the two members. "As you can see, I've summoned the both of you for something rather important. The mission I am assigning you is taxing enough that I didn't bother sending notes out to you detailing it. This mission requires my personal thoughts and plans."

"Must be good," Marluxia said with amusement, a smile forming on his face.

"Good may not be the right word for it XI. I find it more…interesting. I have chosen the two of you to carry out this mission because of your individual abilities. VI, your ability to scheme and track is of unfathomable use to this mission. XI, your abilities of offense will be needed extensively for the dangers you face."

"Cool, I'm dangerous," Marluxia murmured, the smile growing wider.

Xemnas laughed quietly. "I can see living around VIII has made an influence on you. Regardless, your mission requires much of your work and time. Both of you will go to several different worlds and attempt to not only collect hearts as you normally do, but find the core of the world, or if you will, the _heart_ of the world."

"Superior, I'm not sure if I understand you completely," Zexion said honestly.

"You see VI…each world has a center, the 'heart' of it if you think metaphorically. It may be an object, or possibly an idea. Whatever it may be, I leave it up to you two to find this core and if you have the ability, to take it. There are many worlds I'm leaving you to cover, which means more work than you are probably used to."

"How many worlds are we talking about?" Marluxia asked, folding his arms in front of him.

"More than we originally figured there were XI. Some worlds have stayed so well hidden over the years that even the Heartless haven't been able to reach them yet. Of course, the Heartless are inferior to us, acting on instinct rather than thought. It is for this reason that I figured VI would be suited to accompany you on this mission. He is able to follow clues that no other member would be able to pursue. You should be able to find the worlds in less time than it would take other members."

Zexion thought back to the library when he had discovered the volumes about alternate worlds. He glanced at Xemnas and tilted his head. "Pardon my interruption Superior, but could it be that you placed three volumes written about different worlds within the library?"

Xemnas smiled and closed his eyes, nodding slightly. "As quick as ever VI, for indeed I did. My belief is that if you could gather information from texts about these worlds, you would be able to track them down quickly and efficiently. Have you been able to look at them yet?"

"Just for a moment Superior," Zexion replied.

"I see. Did you find the information helpful?"

"Yes Superior, I did. It was helpful as well as interesting."

"Well done VI, you have already helped speed up the mission." Xemnas paused and reached into a drawer of his desk and pulled out two gold-colored folders. "Now, here is a list of all the worlds I would like you two to arrive at. Look over it tonight and attempt to gain an idea of what to do. Tomorrow morning, you shall depart, understood?"

"Yes Superior," the two answered in unison, bowing to him in synchronization.

"Very well, now you may leave."

Marluxia was the first to walk out, his head held up high as though he had been given the highest honor ever bestowed upon a Nobody. Zexion walked slowly behind him until Xemnas spoke up again. "VI, come here for a moment." Zexion turned around and walked back to Xemnas's desk without hesitation.

"Yes Superior?"

"I could see your distaste in my choice of partners for this mission."

Zexion bit his lip, thinking of a way to phrase his disgust without screaming. "XI is not my…favorite member of the Organization. I find it unnecessary to fraternize with him on any level."

"I see. Unfortunately, he has been exhibiting questionable behavior, so please look after him and report anything unusual to me immediately. I trust you with him above anyone else."

"Thank you Superior," Zexion said while bowing.

"Alright, on your way then," Xemnas said, unfolding his hands and leaning back in his chair slightly. Zexion bowed his head quickly before leaving and shutting the door behind him. The office was silent for a moment until a portal opened and Saïx stepped out.

"How did it go?" he asked, walking next to the desk and leaning one hand on it.

"Very well I think," Xemnas said, leaning back further and resting his hands behind his head. "XI will surely not cause any further problems if things go as planned. Our Schemer is already two steps ahead of me it seems."

"I figured as much. What should we do now?"

"Relax," Xemnas chuckled, closing his eyes and sighing. "For now, our only problems are ones with the Heartless, and that isn't very much."

"Very good," Saïx said in a low voice, his malicious smile coming back. "I believe this plan is foolproof."

"As do I," Xemnas muttered, a small grin forming on his face. "But we will wait and see all the same. I don't expect to see XI coming back after this."


	2. Ennui

Alrighty, so I did a lot of thinking about the worlds I'd like to have in this fanfic. Some of them (like I said before) may be ones you've never heard of. No worries though, since they'll explain themselves in no time. However, if you're royally confused and honestly curious, just message me or leave it in a review, and I'll be happy to tell you. I know, I'm a curious little monkey myself. XD

Anyways, another note I was going to make in the last chapter but neglected to do so was my title. I found that it's actually been used a lot, but I wasn't sure if we were all thinking on the same wavelength when choosing of titles came along. My title comes from the song 'When Worlds Collide' by Powerman 5000. I think that song really fits this fanfic. 8D So read on little chalupas!

DISCLAIMER: Nope, still don't own it. Don't sue me, I'm just a hopeless fangirl. XD

* * *

"This can't be happening," Zexion muttered to himself as he walked back to the library from Xemnas's office. The false anger his brain was capable of conjuring began attacking him from all sides, not to mention the certain disgust and hatred towards his future partner, the ever-annoying Marluxia. "There is no possible way I can complete a mission with that annoying…thing!" he hissed.

Overcome with the false emotions he was experiencing, Zexion halted in the middle of the hallway and stared straight ahead; taking deep breaths in an attempt to soothe his rarely irritated nerves. "Alright, just go to the library and research these worlds," he told himself quietly, clutching the folder close to him much as he did with his lexicon. Forcing himself to move forward, he kept his eyes straight ahead, trying to push the idea away from his mind that he was being paired with Marluxia.

To his relief, it was a very short time before he reached the library. He forced the doors open with more force than necessary. Of course, he could have just opened a portal and phased to the library, but he worried that his anger at the time would have caused him to rip apart some poor and innocent books. Better to walk it off than to let it go immediately.

Zexion felt much more calm as he sat down at the reading table and opened the first volume of books dedicated to other worlds. As soon as it was opened to the table of contents, Zexion opened the folder containing the list of worlds and all other information he might need for the mission. The list was longer than he expected and was filled with worlds that, yet again, he had never heard of. Slowly, he ran his finger down the list and began committing them to memory.

_Wonderland_

_Devil's Bayou_

_Deep Jungle_

_Prydain_

_Land of Dragons_

_Notre Dame_

_Pride Lands_

_Halloween Town_

_Port Royal_

_Kingsbury_

_Atlantica_

_Beast's Castle_

_Jamestown_

_Sherwood Forest_

_Agrabah_

_Treasure Planet_

_Kingdom of the Sun_

_Castle of Dreams_

_Enchanted Kingdom_

_Hollow Bastion_

Zexion cocked his head in confusion as he read all of the worlds again. There was no way there could be so many to cover, and so many he had never heard of! With speeds that only Zexion could possibly manage, he began flipping through the pages of the first volume, searching for information about unknown worlds. Of course, the book went in alphabetical order, so he started of with Devil's Bayou, having no idea where else to begin.

According to the book, and from what Zexion could gather, Devil's Bayou was a small swampy island, made infamous for its unusual amount of riverboat crashes and disasters, as well as a large diamond known as the _Devil's Eye_. That got a reaction from Zexion and he quickly wrote some ideas down on a sheet of paper. '_Devil's Eye; may be the "heart" of the world?'_ he wrote, looking at a small sketch of the diamond afterwards. It was a good theory, he supposed, and then began looking through the rest of the entry about the world.

Apparently, one of the riverboats that had crashed had also become the home to a series of thieves, blackguards, and otherwise bad company over the years. That thought made Zexion shudder, as well as the idea of going to some hot and swampy world that was probably home to more plant life than he would ever care to see. Marluxia was sure to have a more pleasurable time. A rare grin crossed Zexion's face at the thought of abandoning Marluxia at the bayou and continuing the mission without a certain annoying hitch. Of course, that would never work. He sighed wistfully and continued his reading.

* * *

Almost three hours had passed and Zexion was still reading and writing notes. The library door opened, pulling him out of his reverie. A dash of pink entered his line of vision and he sighed. "Hello XI," he murmured, lowering his head and continuing to write notes. Marluxia walked all the way in and sat down across from Zexion, gesturing to him with the other gold-colored folder.

"Did you see how many worlds he wants us to go to?"

"No, I didn't see any of them," Zexion replied sarcastically, penning down more notes without looking up.

Marluxia ignored him and continued. "I haven't heard of half of these places! I mean, who's ever heard of Sherwood Forest or whatever it is? These places can't exist."

"Actually, they do," Zexion said, holding up an entire page of notes completely dedicated to Sherwood Forest. Marluxia cocked his head and took the notes, looking at them with confusion.

"Where did you find all this out?"

Zexion paused and held up one of the violet-colored books. "Sometimes reading is good for you XI."

Marluxia snatched the book away from him and glared at Zexion. "I _read_," he said, refraining from sticking his tongue out at the Schemer. He looked down at the book and flipped through some of the pages, half-reading them. Zexion silently counted backwards from ten until Marluxia slammed the book shut as soon as he finished his countdown. Zexion smiled smugly and took the book back from Marluxia who looked completely frustrated. The Schemer gently placed the book back at its place on the table and folded his hands in front of him watching the pink-haired man across from him with half-interest.

"I take it you do not like to read?" Zexion asked in more of a statement than an actual question.

Just as before, Marluxia ignored the comment and leaned back, rubbing his temples as though trying to relieve a headache. "Does Xemnas honestly think we can do all of that in a short time?"

"I don't see why you don't address him as 'Superior'," Zexion commented, his eyes still calmly focused on the frustrated Assassin.

"It's because he's insane Zexion! No psychopath is going to be _my_ Superior," Marluxia snapped back.

"It's words like that, neophyte, that could get you in trouble," Zexion responded dryly, leaning back in his chair.

"Whatever," Marluxia said, rubbing his eyes and sighing. "He's crazy and you know it."

"If I wish to continue my research and preserve my life, I find it useful not to voice my opinions."

"Goody two-shoes," Marluxia muttered. Zexion ignored him and opened up one of the books, looking through the pages and writing notes once again.

There was a long silence only penetrated by the occasional scratches of Zexion's pen and the feathery sound of pages being turned. Apparently, the silence was too uncomfortable to Marluxia who stood up and began walking around the library. Zexion didn't question why the Assassin was staying in the library and just continued his reading. Several moments passed until Marluxia piped up from behind one of the bookshelves. "I don't get how you can just sit there and read all day. Don't you ever get bored?"

"Nobodies aren't supposed to get _bored_," Zexion responded, his eyes not leaving the page he was reading.

"Well, you never do missions, so I just guessed you coop yourself in here all day and read."

"I'd rather not do missions. I plan them for the most part."

"So why are you doing this one?" Marluxia asked, peeking out from behind the shelf he was hidden behind.

Zexion's eyes still didn't leave the page. "This is one of the first missions Superior has ever asked me to participate in. If Superior commands me to do it, I have no choice but to follow my orders."

Marluxia rolled his eyes and went back to looking absent-mindedly through the seemingly endless titles stored on the shelves. "I don't understand you Zexion."

"You're an enigma to me as well XI," the Schemer replied while penning down a paragraph of notes. There was another pause before Marluxia looked behind the shelf again at the silent reader.

"You _did_ read the part about the Gummi ship, right?"

This caused Zexion to stop in his reading and look up at the pink-haired man. "What Gummi ship?"

Marluxia walked out from behind the bookshelf, a small but triumphant grin plastered on his face. "You mean the great Zexion, the reader of the year, didn't read _that_ part of the plan?"

"I believe I have read the packet and notes _thoroughly_ XI. I'm sure I didn't miss any of the details," Zexion said, glaring at the victorious-looking Assassin. A soft laugh came from Marluxia as he opened his packet again and pulled out a small green piece of paper. He held it up to Zexion's face who took it and read the small but neat handwriting printed on it.

_You will be arriving at different worlds by means of a specially designed Gummi ship, in which there is a package for each of you, both containing items that will assist you in your mission. The Gummi ship is stored down the hall from the Dungeon. Have a Dusk escort you there if you are unable to locate it._

_ -Superior_

Zexion set the note aside and eagerly filed through his packet, trying to find any trace of the note. There was none. He couldn't contain a low groan of annoyance that ran through him before sinking in his chair slightly. Marluxia laughed and ran a hand through his nearly flawless hair. "I was hoping you might have had training to fly a Gummi ship. I've never touched one in my life."

"I've read about them," Zexion muttered, still feeling very much defeated. He had no doubt that he would be able to fly the ship. It would just be against his will. Quickly running through information he had gathered about the ships, he figured it would be no problem…as unfortunate as it was. "Yes, I can fly one," he finally decided and Marluxia grinned widely.

"Great! One problem solved already. Now, I wonder about the packages he's leaving for us. What do you think is in them?"

Zexion just shrugged, pulling himself up and sighing. "It's not for me to figure out. If Superior doesn't want us to know yet, then we just won't know."

"You give up too easy," Marluxia mused, leaning one hand on the table. Zexion glared at the hand before looking up into Marluxia's icy blue eyes. The Assassin smiled and shrugged. "No matter. It just means we're better prepared for the mission, right?"

"…Right," Zexion responded, noticing the change in Marluxia's logic.

"Anyways, I'm heading off to my room. All these books make me sleepy just looking at them," Marluxia yawned with exaggeration. He held his hand out and summoned a portal, waving at Zexion before walking through it. Zexion watched the portal for a moment until it closed, then looked at the books and notes before him.

"I don't get bored," he whispered before looking at the rest of the library. "But…maybe getting out of here for awhile won't hurt much."

He stood up and gathered all of the notes, hitting them lightly off the table to straighten them before placing them under one arm and summoning his own portal, going off to his room, which he hadn't seen in days. Besides, sleep couldn't hurt either, even if he didn't need it.


	3. Ascent

Hey guys! This chapter might seem to drag or seem kind of weird, but that's because I'm looking forward to the next chapter so much! Next chapter, the story _really_ picks up, so stay with me on this one. So read and review please! And thanks to all who have reviewed so far. You guys are the best!

Also, I'm kind of a Gummi ship fanatic, so don't mind me. XD I really love making and driving Gummi ships (but only on KH2, since KH1 Gummis were really bad!) so there's a lot of stuff here that pertains to my itty-bitty obsession! X3

DISCLAIMER: Nope, still don't own. No worries, I'll get enough money some day that Disney and Square Enix shall be MINE. Bwahahaha!

* * *

Morning came too soon for Zexion, who hadn't slept in such a long time that sleep just seemed to devour him and trap him in its grasp. '_This is why I don't sleep,_' was his first thought as he was forced to open his eyes. The world around him seemed blurry and dark at first until his eyes slowly adjusted.

Dragged down by fatigue, he hesitantly got up and put on his pants, coat, boots, and finally his gloves. He made sure he could still quickly summon his lexicon, just in case. Finally, he grabbed his packet and the notes he had written and exited the room, summoning a portal to enter the hallway where the dungeon and the supposed Gummi hangar were located.

Marluxia was already waiting in the hallway, looking much happier and excited than Zexion. "Good morning sunshine!" Marluxia chortled, grinning at Zexion's fatigued appearance.

"If you value your existence XI, you won't provoke me this early," Zexion threatened, closing his eyes and sighing.

"Aw, someone didn't drink his coffee this morning, did he?" Marluxia teased.

"I simply made the mistake of sleeping despite the fact that I do not need to," Zexion corrected.

"Either way, you're going to have to be a little more bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. We have a long trip, right?" Marluxia said, a teasing look still on his face.

"Indeed XI. Now, where might the ship be?"

"According to the Dusks, it's right there," Marluxia answered, pointing to a white and silver door with no handle. Zexion cocked his head and walked up to the door, examining it. He experimentally pushed the door with his free hand and scowled when the door didn't open.

"Alright, I'll try to get there by portal," Zexion resolved, opening a portal and stepping through it.

He stepped into a large white room, almost the size of Where Nothing Gathers. In the middle of the room was a large black and white ship with streaks of silver running down the hull and forming the Nobody symbol on the hatches. Four extremely large engines were suspended from the underside of the ship and two smaller engines were divided and perched on the wings. A series of varying thrusters were placed symmetrically on the back, forming a pyramid shape. Underneath the head of the ship were another varying series of lasers and cannons, all of which convinced Zexion that the ship was indestructible.

After several minutes of admiring and inspecting the ship, Zexion opened another portal to go back into the hallway. He walked through it to see a bored-looking Marluxia who had folded his arms in front of him. "What took you so long?" the pink-haired man asked with irritation.

Zexion glared at him. "I was inspecting the ship if you _must_ know. And I wouldn't suggest you speak like that to your superiors, _neophyte_."

"You know, I _really_ don't like that word," Marluxia hissed back while summoning a portal and walking through it.

"It suits you," Zexion snapped back uncharacteristically, summoning his own portal and going back to the ship.

* * *

"Now _that_ is fancy," Marluxia said in awe as he gazed up at the ship.

"It's extremely well-built, in the best condition it could possibly be in, and it's state-of-the-art," Zexion stated, walking up to the ladder which led to the cockpit.

"Thank you Mister Encyclopedia," Marluxia muttered sarcastically, following the younger member up into the ship.

The cockpit itself was especially spacious, containing six seats compared to the usual three in standard Gummi ships. A dashboard filled with flickering lights and buttons glowed at the head of the cockpit, complete with a radar screen, able to show scenes going on all around the ship and containing a warning screen to alert the pilot of oncoming enemies. In the back of the cabin was a miniature refrigerator (although Nobodies hardly had to eat and it was purely optional) as well as a microwave and a small cupboard. A foldout table was embedded in the wall in the farthest corner of the cabin, surrounded by chairs bolted to the floor.

However, it wasn't the layout of the cockpit that caught the duo's attention. Lying on the seats of the front two chairs were identical packages, each large in size and thick and on each was written the name of the respective owner. Marluxia was the first to pick his up. Eagerly, he ripped the package open and pulled out its contents. To both his and Zexion's confusion, he pulled out a coat identical to his own Organization coat. "What's this?" Marluxia asked, turning it over in his hands.

"It's obviously an Organization coat… However, there must be something different about this. Is there any inscription within the package?" Zexion asked, eyeing his own parcel. Marluxia dug through the package until he pulled out another small green note. Silently, he read it over, and then handed it to Zexion.

_XI,_

_The coat you have just received is specially made for your mission. The fibers that compose the material have been enchanted by means I cannot reveal. These enchanted coats that you and your partner have received are able to change your entire bodily composition to help you blend in with the population inhabiting the worlds you shall be landing on. It may change your clothes, your entire facial appearance, your entire body, or even your species. Keep this coat on you at all times, for you may need it in an emergency. Good luck._

_-Superior_

"Do you have a note?" Marluxia asked, taking his note back from Zexion who began opening his own package. Zexion pulled out his own coat, and then dug around until he pulled out an identical green note. He read it before nodding.

"It's the same exact note, except with my number on it," Zexion confirmed.

Marluxia shrugged and instantly shed his coat, revealing a well-toned body underneath. Zexion's jaw dropped and he turned away, slightly burying his face in the coat he had been given. "Must you be so _ribald_ XI?"

Marluxia paused and turned his head. "What the heck does that mean?"

"It means indecent," Zexion snapped back, resuming his ostrich-like head burying.

The Assassin snorted before easing the new coat onto his frame. "Oh come on, we're both guys."

"It's still very rude," Zexion mumbled back.

Marluxia zipped up the coat and examined the sleeves. "Y'know, I think this coat fits better than my regular one. Maybe I should get refitted."

Zexion ignored him and examined his own coat for any abnormalities. Finding none, he hesitantly took off his coat and unfolded the new one. He heard a quite giggle behind him and turned his head to see Marluxia with a gloved hand over his mouth. "What?" Zexion asked.

"Zexy, you're like a twig, you know that? Do you ever eat?"

Zexion took a moment to examine himself. Yes, he could see his ribs that stuck out prominently and his stomach seemed more concave than flat. He frowned and shook his head, quickly putting the other coat on. "Fast metabolism," he excused.

"Right…" Marluxia teased, rolling his eyes. Zexion frowned at the pink-haired man before zipping up the coat and standing in front of the dashboard. He memorized the position of all the controls and then examined the area outside of the Gummi ship.

"Now how do we exit? There's no opening here," Zexion whispered. He heard Marluxia cough once behind him and he turned to face him. "Yes XI?"

"Look above you," the Assassin merely stated. Zexion tipped his head back to see a small shimmering light above them. The Schemer sighed and shook his head, cursing his momentary obliviousness. Quickly, he found the control to make the ship ascend vertically and struck it with no hesitation.

* * *

The ship grumbled to life and the soft whirring sound of a pressure change in the cabin filled the air. A deafening roar of the engines igniting rumbled outside of the cockpit but was thankfully muted by the almost soundproof glass. In the blink of an eye, the ship ascended at such a speed that it made Zexion suddenly realize that he was not immune to gravity unlike certain free-shooters. He was crouched on the floor before he could realize what was going on. Pushing against the physical forces attempting to crush him, he managed to see the change in the outside world. The white and silver setting he was so used to was soon changed to a dark blue and black outside world, reaching far outside the swirling tower that composed his home.

He heard a soft murmur from Marluxia who also seemed momentarily stunned by gravity's unexpected forces. He was pushed down in his seat uncomfortably and fought to prop himself up. "Sheesh," he mumbled, stretching himself out. "They really need a warning for this thing."

"I suppose so," Zexion said, pressing several switches that began equalizing the pressures inside and out and managed to bring the Gummi ship to a safe height above the ground and the castle. The ship hovered in space for a moment and Zexion sighed with relief. "Alright, XI, we are headed to…Wonderland first, am I correct?"

Marluxia reached over to the small bundle of notes Zexion had composed and glanced at them before nodding. "Yeah, Wonderland. Have you ever been there?"

"No, I have not, though I have read about it."

"Alright," Marluxia muttered, flipping through some of the notes. "So what are we looking for there?"

"Unfortunately, I found it difficult to pinpoint a single object, or even an idea. From what I have read, Wonderland is not only flexible with what it contains, but apparently is also very…different from other worlds. Objects and people will change without warning and it often requires the smallest catalyst to do so. In other words, the smallest change in environment and setting in Wonderland can cause the entire world to change."

"And why are we going there if it's constantly changing?" Marluxia asked, going through more notes without bringing his eyes up.

"Because some of the objects, settings, and ideas are permanent. One of the residents we might attempt to find is the Queen of Hearts. She seems to be the permanent ruler of Wonderland."

"So she's going to tell us everything we need to know?"

"I can't say that such an event will occur. However, I am hopeful now that our appearances will change. Should these coats be able to change with the surroundings, we may be able to extract more information than if we had landed in just our regular uniforms, understand?"

"Yeah, I guess so," the Assassin said, going back to the first page. "Wait, what's with this cat?"

"Cat? You mean the Cheshire Cat, I assume?" Zexion asked, beginning to set the course for Wonderland.

"Whichever one is supposed to smile a lot," Marluxia stated, eyeing a small sketch of a cat with an almost grotesque smile on its face.

"Yes, the Cheshire Cat. Yet again, that is another unfortunate aspect of Wonderland. It's a highly confusing place with highly confusing occupants. The cat is supposed to be the Sphinx of Wonderland, if you wish to call it that."

"The…Sphinx?"

Zexion shrugged, keeping his eyes ahead as the ship began to move forward and pick up speed. "He's full of riddles and seemingly unanswerable questions. Honestly, I hope to encounter him to see if I could possibly answer his riddles and questions. He may contain useful information."

"He looks pretty creepy if you ask me," Marluxia responded, grimacing at the nearly frightening appearance of the cat.

"That may just be another aspect of Wonderland," Zexion answered briskly, seeming to brush off the subject.

"Great, this just seems more promising every minute," the pink-haired man grumbled, setting the notes aside and leaning back. "Anyways, so what if we don't get what we're looking for?"

"I just hope that Superior will be merciful and let it pass. If we collect all objects from the other worlds, one world may just be brushed off as a mere accident and others may be sent to retrieve the object," the Schemer answered, satisfied with the directions he had given the ship. Instantly, the ship's monitor flashed the words 'Auto Pilot' before picking up more speed. Zexion sat down in the opposite chair from Marluxia and looked through his notes. "I feel as though this shall be a success."

"I hope you can predict the future or something because I'm really not getting that feeling."


	4. Recreant

Yay! Fourth chapter! This is the Wonderland chapter, but technically as a segment, it's divided up into two chapters because they're very long. I have a sneaking suspicion I'll be doing that with most of the worlds, if not all of them. Anyways, I feel pretty good about this chapter other than most of it was written when I was tired, so it might sound a little weird. However, I've read it over a few times and as I said, I feel good about it.

And I've been trying to repair Marluxia's personality, so tell me if he seems off in this one too. It's just hard to write about him next to Zexion the uber-genius and Captain Polite. That, and I've played very little of Chain of Memories. Forgive meh? XD

DISCLAIMER: I still don't own it. Disney and Square Enix owns it. The poem 'Jabberwocky' and all things Alice-y belongs to Mr. Dodgson/Carroll and I claim nothing from it other than wonderful poetry.

* * *

This chapter is dedicated to two very lovely people. The first of which being QuarantineVirus, my lovely Beta extraordinaire who puts up with me day in and day out. I'm lucky to say she's my best friend on the computer and off.

The second person to whom I'm dedicating this chapter to is the wonderful Mr. Charles Dodgson, or you might know him as Lewis Carroll. He wrote the original 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' and 'Through the Looking-Glass'. I've had that book next to me the entire time I wrote this chapter. He deserves all the credit and more for his great imagination and wonderful writing.

* * *

The amethystine space that the Gummi ship roared through did not cease to amaze Zexion and Marluxia. Below them was a possibly endless abyss formed by gulfs, crevasses, and pools of black, navy, cerulean, and violet. In their very midst were long tendrils of turquoise, teal, aqua, and sapphire—all set against a dark blue backdrop. It was as though they were floating through a jewel, be it opal or a blue diamond.

Marluxia pressed his hands against the glass of the cockpit and gazed outside. "It's beautiful," he murmured, his eyes darting back and forth, trying to take in the whole scene.

"Yes, and very cyanic," Zexion responded almost dreamily.

"What?"

"It's very blue," the Schemer said, snapping out of his reverie to glare at Marluxia.

"Yeah… Blue…" Marluxia whispered, unable to peel his eyes away from the space outside. "So where's Wonderland?" There was a long pause before Marluxia managed to pull himself away from the glass to look at Zexion. The blue-haired teen in question was staring straight ahead, his cobalt eyes trained on something in the distance. The Assassin walked behind Zexion and peered over his shoulder, seeing nothing but an endless blue space. He blinked and looked at the boy before waving a gloved hand in front of his face. "Hey, Zexy, what are you looking at?"

Unexpectedly, Zexion's hand shot up and grabbed Marluxia's wrist before he could wave it again. His eyes were completely focused and didn't waver for a moment. Marluxia managed to wrench his wrist out of Zexion's hand and looked ahead. "Really, what the heck are you looking at?"

"Shut up," Zexion snapped back harshly, though his face didn't signify it. He looked almost stunned and completely still otherwise. Marluxia examined the boy for a minute until he noticed some small movement on his face. Zexion's nose was twitching slightly, making him almost look like a rabbit.

"Wait a minute… Do you smell something?"

"Yes, now would you shut up?" Zexion hissed, sniffing the air for a moment more. To Marluxia's surprise, Zexion's pupils dilated and he sucked in a breath but did not let it out.

"Um, Zexy, are you okay?"

"I'm fine—just be quiet," Zexion said while exhaling, managing to look down at the radar screen. "We're off course," he whispered, fiddling with some of the controls.

"How can you tell?"

"We're close, but not right on," the Schemer said simply, letting go of the controls and staring ahead again. "I smell it from here."

"How the heck do you smell a _world_?" Marluxia asked, slightly frustrated.

"It has a specific osmatic quality," Zexion responded, his pupils returning to normal size. He visibly relaxed and sighed.

"Osma-whata?" Marluxia asked in confusion.

"It means it smells like something," Zexion said, settling down in the pilot's chair. He rubbed his temples with his index fingers and closed his eyes. "I despise when that happens."

"When what happens?"

"When I catch the scent of something very specific. It gives me quite an intense migraine. I am much more comfortable with lesser scents of smaller things. Entire worlds are rather bothersome."

"Okay, then what does Wonderland smell like?"

"Roses," Zexion said, beginning to rub the bridge of his nose as though to soothe it.

Marluxia let out a delighted squeal and clapped his hands girlishly. "Ooo! I love roses!"

"I know," Zexion muttered, opening one eye to glare at the pink-haired man. "The scent of roses coming from Wonderland is very strong…and irritating." He rubbed his nose again to emphasize his irritation.

"Oh, you have no taste," Marluxia retorted with some bitterness.

"It's overpowering and drowns out the more important things," Zexion remarked.

"Roses aren't overpowering! Besides, what can be more important?" Marluxia asked, feigning offense.

"Of course, you're as one-track-minded as I suspected," the Schemer sighed, adjusting himself in the chair. He leaned his head back and stared at the endless blue above him, shimmering through the glass like a great sapphire.

* * *

From where Zexion had first detected the scent of Wonderland and where Wonderland actually was located was quite a large distance. It didn't cease to astound Marluxia and just made the young Schemer seem more complex and…strange for lack of a better word. It took them something close to an hour and a half to fly to the point where a small green and reddish glimmer was visible. Even then, it took another half hour to get a full view of the strange-looking world.

Marluxia couldn't help but let out a pleasurable squeak at the sight of the world. Roses were visible even from a mile away. The scent was heavenly, despite the fact that Zexion was keeping a gloved hand firmly planted over his nose, all while continually cringing. The Assassin glanced over at his disgusted partner and rolled his eyes. "Seriously, how can you not like that smell? It's a perfect balance of strength and softness!"

"It's smells like the inside of a perfume bottle," Zexion responded in a humorously nasal voice.

Marluxia couldn't resist a giggle. "Do you go around sniffing perfume bottles?"

"No, but I could think of no better analogy. Now let's land and get this over with while we still can," Zexion retorted, moving his hand away just so he could press several buttons and pull on a glimmering silver lever. The ship grumbled again, almost in protest to the pilot's actions. Soon, the engines roared to life again and propelled the ship towards the world's surface.

* * *

The ship finally slowed down and settled against hard ground, much to the relief of Zexion and Marluxia. However, before the duo could exit the ship, a strange dim light began to illuminate their new coats. Zexion's lit up the brightest first and it seemed as though he had been completely engulfed by a blinding light. Not even a second later, Marluxia's coat did the same.

A minute later, the glowing receded and the members looked at each other in confusion. Marluxia suddenly gasped as he eyed Zexion. "Z-Zexy, look at your clothes…and your hair…and everything!"

The Schemer looked down to see that indeed, his clothes had completely changed. Instead of his typical uniform, he was now wearing a large thick black jacket made of a strong material that he couldn't quite place. Embroidered beautifully onto the coat's sleeves were dozens of what appeared to be white chess pieces. On his shoulders were identical emblems of the white knight chess piece.

Below the jacket was a pair of black pants, finer than anything Zexion had ever worn before in his life. They were tight fitting and made of a material that looked and felt much like suede. Tied to his right leg, just above the knee was a small holster with a concealed dagger inside of it. The pants were tucked into a pair of large leather boots with the white knight symbol patched onto them.

Remembering what Marluxia had mentioned about the hair, Zexion gently touched a lock of what he remembered to be his silvery-blue hair. However, that was not what his fingers brushed against. Instead, he touched a lock of whitish-blue hair that reached almost down to his shoulders but still covered his right eye. His eyes widened and he looked across at Marluxia and gasped. "XI, look at yourself!"

Marluxia looked around in all directions, almost in panic, yet still in a strange sort of satisfaction. His hair had hardly changed. The only true change he could note was that it had darkened to a pinkish-red. However, his clothes had drastically transformed. He wore a white shirt underneath a see-through dark pink jacket which had images of roses dyed into it. His pants were also white with rose vines twisting around the legs and small roses budding or blooming from the vines. He wore no shoes but instead had a rose tattooed on his left foot. "Oh wow," he finally managed after getting over the initial shock. His voice seemed to fail him from there and he examined himself again.

"So what exactly are we supposed to be?" Zexion finally asked, looking around at himself some more, trying to get used to the unfamiliar and drastic changes in his appearance.

"Don't ask me," Marluxia responded, examining the material that composed his jacket. "I suppose we just go down there and see what happens. It'll probably be like what you call 'guess and check'."

"For once XI, I completely agree with you."

The Gummi ship had apparently landed in a dense forest, much to the duo's relief. It would be well hidden and protected there…or so they thought. Upon further inspection, the two found that the forest boasted more than it initially appeared to contain. Strange creatures that they had never seen before watched them from branches and from behind bushes. A pair of glasses with a bird's beak and legs blinked at them from a branch before chirping and jumping off. Several small, colorful, and fuzzy creatures with only two legs danced around and formed several unintelligible symbols. Two umbrellas made to look like vultures watched them with suspicious eyes before cawing and flying away. It was a most unusual setting and place.

"…Where are we supposed to go?" Marluxia whispered, hoping not to disturb any of the strange-looking creatures.

Zexion reached inside of his jacket where he had stashed some of his notes about Wonderland. He pulled them out and glanced over them quickly. "We're to head for the Royal Castle. It appears to be surrounded by a great hedge maze." No sooner than he had spoken then a cheerful singing voice rang through the forest.

"'Twas brillig, in the slithy toves, did gyre and gimble in the wabe! All mimzy were the borogroves, and the mome raths outgrabe!" The voice laughed at the end of the verse before lowering into a much more serious tone. "Beware the Jabberwock my son. The jaws that bite, the claws that snatch! Beware the JubJub bird and shun the frumious Bandersnatch!"

"Excuse me!" Zexion interjected. The voice instantly silenced and Zexion looked around suspiciously. "May I ask who would be singing?"

"Ah, the fine White Knight has returned! But yet, without his faithful steed!" the voice responded regally before bursting into a fit of giggles.

"What do you mean?" asked Zexion, glancing around to find the source of the voice.

"And beside you, his royal highness, the Duke of Rosebury!" the voice bellowed.

"Rosebury?" Marluxia asked quietly, looking to Zexion for answers. The Schemer ignored him and persisted with his search. A long silence dragged before the giggles surfaced again.

"Now, now, I see you now. Little Knight with hair so white, stepping farther from the light. With darkness dank yet darkness bright, how shall you battle the devil's night?"

Zexion's eyes widened and he turned to Marluxia, lowering his voice to a soft whisper. "XI, this must be the Cat."

"Oh great, the crazy cat is talking to us," the Assassin groaned.

"Crazy? Maybe!" the voice chortled. Upon a branch, Zexion and Marluxia both watched as a low purple glow hovered there before a grotesquely large smile hovered in it. It tilted back and forth as though floating on a tide before opening and speaking. "I see you came from the dark!" it bellowed before two glowing yellow eyes appeared above the mouth. They rolled back and forth before focusing on the two.

"You are the Cheshire Cat, right?" Marluxia asked, walking up beside Zexion to examine the strange apparition on the tree branch.

"Indeed, I'm that Cat. Of course, there aren't many other cats like me, now is there? I've never met a Devonshire Cat, or even a Hampshire Cat for that matter! I have met an Essex Horse though, but he was rather a brute."

"Pardon my interruption," Zexion said, and the yellow eyes turned towards him. He recoiled slightly before lowering his head. "I would like to know the way to the Royal Castle. Do you know how to get there?"

"Here or there or anywhere. It doesn't matter where you're going. It all depends on where you stop!" the Cat responded before completely appearing on the tree branch. His body was covered with pink and purple stripes and he propped up his head on two pink paws. The grin never receded but instead appeared to get wider.

"What is he talking about?" Marluxia asked in confusion.

"Hang on," Zexion muttered, closing his eyes and wrinkling his forehead in thought. Instantly, his eyes shot open and he looked at the Cat. A smallest hint of a smirk crossed his face. "Alright, where do we stop?"

"Ah! There's the question of the day! You stop not far from where you start. Follow the broomsticks and brushes to where you hear some heads. Play a few games of cards and you should be able to find the hearts you've been looking for."

"Hearts?" Marluxia breathed, looking up at the Cat in wonder and seeming to ignore the rest of the confusing statement.

"Oh yes!" the Cat responded, clapping his paws together. "The Queen gives out hearts faster than she takes heads!"

"Excuse me again," Zexion muttered. "I'm not quite sure I completely understand your directions. And what do you mean by 'hearts you've been looking for'?"

"Gentle Knight, I'm sure you understand. Why, quick wit is what Wonderland thrives on! Think fast and the land will change fast! Nevertheless, beware, good-thinking Knight. Your thoughts may be too serious for what Serious's brother gives you. And as for your hearts, or the ones you don't have… Well, we'll save that for another brillig, now won't we?" The Cat laughed again before slowly unraveling itself and disappearing completely.

"What was that?" Marluxia asked, looking around to see if possibly, the Cat took up perching on another tree.

"I'm not sure, but we're just going to have to follow those directions the best we can. According to him, it can't be too far from here."

"How could you make any sense out of what he said?" Marluxia exclaimed.

"You just had to flip around the meaning of what he said and it made sense. He said we're going to stop not far from where we start. That makes sense, right?"

"Of course it does," Marluxia affirmed, and then started nodding more. "Okay, I think I got it now. However, I still don't get the whole 'broomsticks and brushes' line. The rest of it almost makes sense."

"Unfortunately, I'm not sure of it either. I suppose we'll find out what that means along the way."

* * *

The forest was thicker than the two had initially figured. Thickets covered any sort of pathway there might be and if the paths weren't covered by those, obstacles like more strange creatures certainly interrupted any route there might have been. One would think a pair of normally powerful Nobodies would have been able to easily defeat legions of strange creatures. However, said Nobodies weren't exactly sure if causing a fight would hurt or help their case, so they avoided as much conflict as possible.

After almost an hour of walking, Marluxia was finally worked up enough to complain. "Alright, so much for being not far from where we were. These thorns are killing my legs. Are we _ever_ going to get there?"

"Quit complaining neophyte. Pain is only an illusion your mind sets forth to make up for your lack of emotion," Zexion retorted, pushing a large branch aside.

"Oh c'mon, you can't say you're not hot or sore or anything."

"I'm not," the Schemer replied simply, breaking away another branch. "I've lost my need to hold onto useless emotions a long time ago."

"Complete with hate, jealousy, and longing?" Marluxia asked.

Zexion stopped and turned his head to look at the pink-haired man. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you still want a heart, don't you? I don't think you would have stayed in the Organization if you didn't still want it. And aren't you ever jealous of people who still have their hearts? Even then, do you _hate_ the people that have them?" The Schemer was silent for a moment before turning around and pushing aside more branches and twigs. Marluxia couldn't help but smile triumphantly. "I thought so. See? I'm not stupid."

"I never said you were," Zexion muttered back.

Marluxia rolled his eyes as he pushed aside a bush. "It's obvious you were thinking it, especially with the way you talk to me. The word 'neophyte' can only go so far in my mind. It makes me sound like I'm extremely stupid."

"My apologies if you feel that way," Zexion responded emotionlessly, continuing to force his way through the forest.

"If you don't mean it, don't say it," Marluxia retorted briskly, forgetting his pain momentarily to storm by Zexion, flinging branches out of the way as though they were mere pieces of paper. Zexion paused to watch him before pressing through the forest, ignoring the small flicker of a need for competition forming in his chest. It was childish, as far as he was concerned. He would not lower himself to the neophyte's level. However, as he thought this, he didn't notice that his arms were pushing aside the branches harder than before and his feet were moving faster to catch up to the pink blur ahead of him.

He finally caught up to Marluxia who had paused for a moment. His hands were held out in front of him as though he was grasping an invisible rod or something of that sort. His eyes glimmered pleasantly and his smile reflected that. "Zexy, I just realized something."

"What might that be?" Zexion asked with irritation evident in his voice.

"I could have just used my scythe! We can get through this forest a lot faster if I use it. How could I forget?"

"XI, what if you hit a creature or something worse? We could lose our chance to find the core of this world!"

"Oh pull yourself together. It won't cause any problems," Marluxia said while grinning. Rose petals descended around him from an unseen source and the scythe appeared in his hands in a flash of white, black, and pink. Its shaft and blade glimmered in the dim forest light and Zexion could see the joy in Marluxia's expression. Without hesitation, Marluxia pulled the scythe back, and then thrust it forward in a slicing motion. A large black and pink blade-shaped projectile flew from it and cut down several trees in the blink of an eye.

As soon as the crashing and rumbling ahead of them ceased, the scythe disappeared in a flurry of rose petals and a victorious-looking Marluxia stood there with his hands on his hips. "What did I tell you? No harm done!" No sooner had he said that than a loud roar resounded through the forest.

"Yeah, no harm done alright," Zexion snapped back, his eyes wide and staring into the forest. He sniffed the air and recoiled, rubbing his nose in disgust.

"What? What's in there?"

"I'm not sure, but it smells terrible," Zexion replied, resisting the urge to dry-heave. Another roar echoed through the forest and Marluxia took a few steps back.

"Zexy, I don't like the sound of this."

"Yeah? You and me both," Zexion responded, keeping his eyes trained on the path that Marluxia had created. "It's coming closer," he whispered. "Get your scythe back out. You might need it."

* * *

No sooner had Marluxia summoned his scythe than several trees cracked and fell not even twenty yards away from them. Shoving its head forward was a large and hideous creature unlike anything the two had ever seen. It was draconic in body but its face looked like a hybrid between a fish, mouse, and lizard. Large teeth protruded from its upper jaw and milky white eyes stared at them angrily. Strangely, the hideous creature was wearing, of all things, a red coat. Of course, that certainly didn't take away from its frightening and disgusting nature.

"Zexy, what the hell is that?" Marluxia exclaimed, gesturing to the beast with his scythe while taking a few steps back.

"I don't know!" Zexion hollered back, also walking backwards, eyes wide. It didn't help that all he had was his lexicon and a dagger. He had no idea what this creature was; let alone what to do when confronted with one.

"Wait!" Marluxia yelled. "That cat was talking about something like this, wasn't he? What was it called? A Jabber-something!"

"A Jabberwocky!" Zexion responded.

"Good, so you know what it is! Now how do we kill it?"

"Do I look like a Jabberwocky specialist?" Zexion yelled back, trying to reach back into his mind for some sort of information. There was nothing there. He had never heard of a Jabberwocky before the Cheshire Cat said anything.

As the Jabberwocky closed in on them, its arms reaching out and claws extended, jaws opening and closing as though trying to eat them before it got them, Marluxia attempted to send scythe-shaped projectiles at the slobbering beast. The projectiles seemed to be deflected by its hide and only managed to make it angrier. No matter what angle he attacked it at, the attacks seemed pointless. It seemed as though Marluxia and his beloved scythe were about to lose.

Right when the situation seemed doomed, a familiar voice echoed through the forest, rising in volume above the Jabberwocky's roars.

"_One, two! One, two! And through and through, the vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head, he went galumphing back!_"

"That's it!" Marluxia exclaimed.

Zexion's wide-eyed gaze went from the hulking Jabberwocky to the scythe-wielding Assassin. "What?"

"I have to cut its head off!"

"You have to _what_?"

"Cut the head off!"

"That might work," Zexion responded, summoning his lexicon just in case cutting its head off didn't work, heaven forbid.

Marluxia coiled to the ground before gracefully leaping into the air. While in midair, he sent several projectiles at the creature to distract it before swinging the scythe down on its long neck. The blade sliced right through the skin and scales, coming out clean on the other side. The Jabberwocky looked stunned before its head came tumbling to the ground with a resounding _crash_! Blood poured from the neck and the rest of its body fell.

Zexion and Marluxia looked at the body with disgust and Zexion in particular backed away with his hand placed firmly over his nose. "It doesn't appear to matter if my body changes its frame. My senses are still very sensitive," he muttered into his hand.

Marluxia turned to face him, slightly wrinkling his nose and the putrid smell seeming to erupt from the body. "Zexion, how come you didn't fight? You could have trapped it in your book and fought it. I've seen you do it before."

"I couldn't have been assured that that tactic could have worked XI," Zexion replied sourly as he slowly moved his hand away from his nose to attempt to brave the smell.

"You just didn't want to fight it," Marluxia replied, making his scythe disappear. Hesitantly, he walked up to the head of the Jabberwocky and grimaced as its blood began pooling by his bare feet. "Ugh, that's rancid," he murmured, backing away from it.

"It's not as though I wouldn't have fought it," the Schemer said, brushing some hair away from his eyes and joining Marluxia in standing by the head.

"You're a coward."

Zexion's head snapped up at the comment. "What did you say?"

"I said, you're a _coward_," Marluxia replied slowly, annunciating every word.

"What made you reach that conclusion?" Zexion responded bitterly.

"Look at yourself! You're supposed to be a knight apparently, but you were hiding behind me like some frightened child!"

"I wasn't sure of the action I would have taken to defeat the Jabberwocky," Zexion replied coolly.

"Yeah, nice excuse," Marluxia snapped back. "You would have run back to the Gummi ship if you had the chance."

"XI, if you don't remember, I don't have a scythe like you. My offensive powers are very limited."

"Oh, right, I forgot. You just have a stupid little book," Marluxia snidely remarked.

"If you do not silence yourself soon XI, I will make sure you regret speaking."

"Uh-huh, like how you made the Jabberwocky regret trying to EAT US?"

Zexion refrained from snarling at the Assassin and instead began storming off into the forest, avoiding the Jabberwocky as much as he could. Marluxia glared after him and growled. "Stupid Schemer… He thinks he knows everything. I'm sure he'll be speaking like that to me when he's bowing at my feet and following _my_ commands. I'll be sure the first thing he does is _eat_ all the pages in that stupid book."

"Hast thou slain the Jabberwock?" an amused voice interrupted. Before Marluxia's eyes, the pink and purple cat manifested in a tree. Its grin was as wide as before except with an almost malicious glint in its yellow eyes.

"What do you want?" Marluxia snapped.

"Hast thou_ slain_ the _Jabberwock_?" the Cat said again, stressing some of the question.

"Yeah, I did. Your White Knight didn't move a finger to help though," he replied, jerking his thumb in the direction that Zexion stormed off.

"Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"

"You're insane," the Assassin muttered, turning away from the Cat and walking after Zexion.

"Oh dear Duke, canst thou be _angered_?"

Marluxia whirled around and glared at the feline. "What are you talking about?"

"Sinister beings, those with no hearts, to stumble while they're blind. Give them a light to give them might and they will pay you mind," the Cat sang, tilting its head back and forth in rhythm.

"Wait, what about the hearts?"

"A rose is a rose and a heart is a heart. Ask for one and you shall receive all," the Cat chortled before disappearing once again.

"Well… That was weird…yet again," Marluxia muttered. He looked yet again in the direction that Zexion took off and sighed. "This is going to be a very interesting mission."

* * *

It took almost twenty minutes before Marluxia found the Schemer. Zexion was now at a normal walking pace but did not speak to Marluxia. He clutched his lexicon to his chest protectively and looked straight ahead, ignoring the Assassin. Marluxia took the hint and stayed silent, falling a few paces behind Zexion.

For a long time, the silence bore down on them, pressing on thicker and thicker until Marluxia could no longer stand it. He had to break the silence one way or another. "Zexion?" he finally said.

"Hm?" was the only noise out of the blue-haired boy.

"Where are we going?"

"Towards the Castle, as we were going beforehand," Zexion responded quietly. Marluxia could here the distaste in his voice and figured what Zexion really mean. 'As we were going before you brought out the Jabberwocky and nearly killed us,' was probably what Zexion had been thinking.

"I didn't mean to call you a coward," Marluxia said, attempting to get on Zexion's good side. Even Marluxia knew that the mission would not run smoothly, if at all, without Zexion's assistance. At least, he could attempt to get on his good side before he overturned the Superior.

"I'm sure you didn't," Zexion replied smoothly, looking around the forest for a moment before fixing his eyes straight ahead once again. Marluxia lowered his eyes and sighed.

Without warning, the pink-haired man tripped and slammed into Zexion's back, sending them both sprawling across the ground. Marluxia landed on Zexion who in turned landed face down in the dirt. With a soft yelp, Marluxia rolled off the Schemer and jumped up to his feet, looking for the object that he tripped over. To his surprise, whatever he was looking for was _looking at him_! Two glittering yellow eyes were staring up at him from the ground. "What in the worlds…?" Marluxia whispered, bending down to get a better look.

"XI, what was that for?" Zexion hissed, wiping some clinging dirt from his face as he stood up.

"Look Zexy!" Marluxia whispered excitedly as he pointed to the small green-eyed creature looking up at him. The creature scuttled out of the shadows and chirped quietly. It was a tiny wooden thing that strongly resembled a wooden scrubbing brush. The bristles of the brush served as legs and the wood seemed to be the body and head. Green eyes rested on top of the wood and blinked at them.

"Is that a…a brush?" Zexion asked, also leaning down to get a better view of the brush-creature.

"I think it is! Is that what you are little guy?" Marluxia cooed, sticking out a finger to the little brush-creature. The creature scuttled up to his finger and sniffed it before letting out a noise like a small sneeze. It scurried up to Marluxia's bare feet and sat on them, mewing appreciatively. "Aw look Zexy! It likes me!" Marluxia chirped before picking up the brush-creature and bringing it up to his face.

"XI, it's a brush, not a hamster."

"I know, but you have to admit it's kind of cute," the Assassin cooed again, stroking the top of the brush's head as it purred at him.

"Wait a moment… Didn't the Cat say something about brushes and broomsticks?" Zexion asked, looking closer at the brush.

"I'm pretty sure it did. Do you think this is what it was talking about?"

"It might be," the Schemer shrugged. "Excuse me, but do you know the way to the Castle?" he asked the brush, feeling rather silly for doing so. It chirped and spun around once before leaning to the right, its eyes darting that way in emphasis.

"Aw, it's cute _and_ it has a good sense of direction! We should name it!"

"You're starting to sound like IX," Zexion murmured.

"Then we should name it Demyx," Marluxia responded, grinning down at the brush-creature. "Alright Demyx, show us how to get out of here."

It took less time than the two thought to get out of the forest with "Demyx" guiding them. The little brush-creature knew the forest well and was more than eager to talk about it. As Marluxia carried him, the brush would chirp, mewl, whimper, and of all things, bark. While Marluxia cooed at it and gushed over it like a mother hen, Zexion was perplexed by its strangeness. As it led them through the forest, jumping around Marluxia's hand like a wood and fiber compass, the Schemer was fascinated.

"Demyx" seemed to be wary as they got deeper into the forest. His green eyes would flit around nervously and he would inch closer to Marluxia with every step he took. Often, he would chirp in fear and cuddle up to Marluxia's chest. The pink-haired man would stroke the top of the little living brush and coo at it soothingly until the brush would stand on the tip of his fingers and mewl when he was going the right direction.

However, the darkening forest was rather nerve-wracking. Every small movement would arouse suspicion and every sound would invoke some degree of fear. Zexion found that as they got deeper into the forest, his hand would get closer to the dagger strapped to his leg. If he had been a coward with the Jabberwocky earlier, this forest was certainly making him braver.

Right when the forest seemed like it would never end and when Zexion was about to throw "Demyx" into the bushes and leave him there, a small glimmering light filtered through the trees. Zexion sniffed the air tentatively and let out a sigh of relief when the scent of roses was close, and not being Marluxia either. The brush-creature began chirping excitedly and leapt from Marluxia's hands, spinning in midair before thumping to the ground. He chirped and barked up to the duo happily and nuzzled their legs before scuttling into the forest. Marluxia sighed, a smile on his face. "Aw, I'm going to miss him."

"Oh stop, you only had him for an hour. That is hardly enough time to think of him as a pet," Zexion said, pushing some branches out of the way to get to the glimmering light.

"Still, at least he was useful if you want to be logical about it," Marluxia remarked, pushing aside some lone branches from the side of a bush with his feet.

"I will admit that at least. However, I don't understand what the Cheshire Cat meant about 'broomsticks'."

"Maybe he was just crazy and said that to trip us up. He seems to do a great job of that."

"Alliteration perhaps. He seems the poetic type."

"Alliteration… That's when a couple words all start with the same sound, right?"

"Congratulations, you knew it," Zexion responded dryly.

"Hey, I told you I wasn't stupid."

"As I said before XI, I never said you were. Besides, even if I did, you _did_ call me a coward."

"Touché," Marluxia laughed, breaking a thin branch off a tree and proceeding towards the light.

* * *

When they finally reached the source of the light, which was the edge of an expansive courtyard filled with hedges and rose bushes, they could not have been more relieved. The scent of roses was unusually overpowering to Zexion and an absolute delight to Marluxia. The Assassin in question began trotting over to a rose bush, admiring the bright red petals. Zexion rolled his eyes and walked up there was well, resorting to breathing through his mouth in order to stop the overpowering scent from permanently damaging his already fragile sinuses.

Just as Marluxia and Zexion were about to walk through the maze and approach the one they hoped was the Queen, identical sharp pains prodded them in the backs and a low and harsh voice barked at them. "Who dares enter the Queen's Royal Gardens and touches the Queen's Royal Rosebushes?"

"J-just us," Marluxia stuttered, bringing his hands up in front of him in order to summon his scythe.

"And who is 'us'?" the voice barked again and the prodding in their backs became harder.

"The D-Duke of Rosebury and the White Kn-Knight," Marluxia responded. Zexion also held up his hands slowly to summon his lexicon. Just as they were about to turn around and attack their attackers, a booming voice resounded all the way over the hedge and gardens.

"OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!"


	5. Dissension

Oh goodness, I'm sorry this took so long. I had writer's block like you wouldn't believe! Unfortunately, it shows a little in my writing. D: Even so, I hope you enjoy this chapter! It was eleven pages according to Microsoft Word. I haven't written that many pages in a looong time. XD

So this chapter is a little imperfect but I swear, the next chapter is going to be the epitome of fantastic. :)

And I'm starting a little 'Gummi Ship Bumper Sticker' thing. For each world, I thought it would be cute to have a little bumper sticker for the boys' ship. Each sticker has to pertain to the world mentioned. I suppose you could call it a contest. Pick a world mentioned in the second chapter and write what you think would be a cute or funny bumper sticker. Whichever I think is the best will be put at the top of the chapter with credit to you. Best o' luck!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of this. Sad, but very true. I'm just a middle-class young lady with an imagination...a sick imagination. XD

* * *

**GUMMI SHIP BUMPER STICKER #1!**

What Happens in Wonderland DEFINITELY Stays in Wonderland!

* * *

Zexion and Marluxia were soon standing before a large courtroom-like scene after they had been captured by the card soldiers. Not a word had been said after the Queen's commands had been heard other than the mutters from the soldiers to keep moving. The two walked along quietly, giving each other glances as though blaming each other for the capture. Now they were apparently being tried for an unknown crime.

The "jury" was made up of an assortment of humanoid animals, such as owls in top hats and pea coats, or rabbits with glasses and argyle sweaters. They looked down at the two and muttered to each other suspiciously. At the head of the courtroom was a classic scene of a judge's chair, set high above all other seats, and a smaller chair next to it, obviously meant for a witness. Two desks sat in front of the seats, both with anthropomorphic creatures sitting behind them.

"Zexion, what are we supposed to do?" Marluxia asked quietly as they were pushed to the two desks.

"Just stay quiet and let me talk us out of this," Zexion murmured back, casting glances around the courtroom and trying to find anything that might help them. There was nothing except the creatures, and they were probably no help at all. Before he could think any further, he and Marluxia were shoved into two chairs next to each other with a small owl standing next to them in a pinstripe suit and a monocle magnifying his left eye. He clicked his beak and shook his head mournfully.

"Oh, you boys are in a lot of trouble."

"What did we do?" Marluxia asked.

"You walked into the Queen's Royal Gardens without permission and touched one of the Queen's Royal Roses. That's a beheading offense if I've ever seen one," the owl replied, shaking his head again.

"Beheading?" both of the men asked, looking at each other in surprise. Zexion took the liberty to speak next.

"Um… Sir, I can hardly see how accidentally trespassing and touching a _flower_ can ultimately resort in capital punishment."

"It's up to the Queen. I'm just serving as the lawyer," the owl replied, straightening a feather on his head that had gone out of place.

"Then isn't it your duty to argue in our favor?" Zexion asked.

The owl chirped and laughed. "Oh no, I work under the Queen. I'm just put here to look nice. You argue in your own favor."

Zexion grimaced and crossed his arms in front of him. "That's hardly fair."

"To the Queen, it's very fair sir."

The two were ultimately silenced by a gavel hitting solid wood. At the head of the courtroom, the Queen took her place at the judge's seat and grinned maliciously. Her crown was slightly off-kilter on her head and her black hair was pulled back tightly and placed in a little bun at the back. She wasn't a very good-looking queen by any means. Her upper lip jutted out too far to look attractive. The way her chin stuck out made her look remotely like an ape, an overweight one at that.

In her left hand, she held the gavel tightly as though ready to hit anyone if they dared step out of line. However, in her right hand, she held a short golden staff with a heart perched on the end. Zexion's eyes widened when he saw it and he leaned over to Marluxia. "XI, I think that's the object we're looking for," he whispered.

"What is?" Marluxia whispered back.

"The heart staff. Look at it and tell me what you think."

Marluxia sat up straight and looked at the staff for a moment before nodding and leaning over again. "I think you're right. I'm getting this weird feeling like it's magnetic or something."

"That's what I was talking about. We have to get that staff one way or another."

"SILENCE!" the Queen bellowed, slamming the gavel on the end of the judge's stand. "The Queen demands silence!" The entire courtroom went completely silent and wide-eyed. The Queen nodded in satisfaction and sat back in her chair, smiling admirably.

A small man hopped up on the side of the witnesses stand with a large parchment. A crown that resembled the Queen's covered his head and slid down to his nose once in awhile, forcing him to push it up. He wore a small red robe and some large shoes that were far too big for him. "A-as the King of Hearts, i-it is my duty to n-name off the crimes of th-these terrible off-offenders," he stuttered, pushing the crown up above his eyes.

"Zexion, _do something_," Marluxia hissed, staring up at the King, wide-eyed.

"I'm not a lawyer," Zexion whispered back.

"You're smart! Pretend you're a lawyer!" the Assassin snapped back quietly, folding his arms in front of him and glaring at Zexion.

The King proceeded, reading the scroll shakily. "These t-two men, one being of questionable g-gender—,"

"I am not!" Marluxia snapped, unable to control himself.

"SHUT UP!" the Queen screeched, smacking the gavel against the stand before pointing it at Marluxia. "One more word out of you and it's OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!" With those words, several card soldiers gestured at him with sharp axes and he instantly shut up.

"A-as I was saying," the King stuttered on, "These two m-men are charged w-with trespassing the R-Royal Gardens without the Q-Queen's permission. Also th-they touched a R-Royal rose which is s-strictly forbidden."

A lull of disapproving grunts, '_hmms_', and the scratching of notes from the jury filled the air. Zexion sighed irritably and rubbed his eyes to emphasize. Marluxia was holding very still, slightly afraid of the Queen's wrath.

The Queen leered at the two, put her hands under her chin, and batted her eyelashes as though trying to make herself seem beautiful. "Well my dears, what do you have to say in defense?"

Zexion stood up awkwardly and crossed his arms. "We haven't even been properly named yet Your Highness."

"Then present yourselves," the Queen said sweetly, twirling her staff around.

"I am the White Knight," he said clearly, ignoring the gasps from the onlookers. "And I have been accompanied by the Duke of Rosebury."

"The Duke of Rosebury!" the Queen exclaimed, clapping her hands in delight. She beamed at Marluxia and batted her eyelashes again. "Well why didn't you say so? The Duke of Rosebury is always welcome at the Castle and the gardens! Dear Duke, accept my apologies. You are dismissed and you may travel the gardens as you please!"

"Um, thank you?" Marluxia asked, tilting his head and standing up. Zexion shot him a glare and he sat down again, clearing his throat and folding his hands on his lap. "Erm… I'd like to finish watching the trial…if it's alright with you, Your Highness. Can I go through the gardens later?"

"Of course my dear. Now, as for you White Knight… I've heard a great deal about you," the Queen said, narrowing her eyes.

"You have?" Zexion questioned, leaning forward slightly in an attempt to intimidate her.

"Indeed. You are known throughout Wonderland as a fantastic poet, a fierce warrior, and a wonderful chef, am I correct?"

"Yes," Zexion affirmed without missing a beat. He heard Marluxia scoff from beside him but chose to ignore him.

"I see, and are you the one who overthrew my dear cousin, the Queen of Spades?"

"I cannot recall. The memory of that situation is a bit blurred."

"Interesting… WRITE THAT DOWN!" the Queen hollered at the jury who quickly scribbled on their notepads. "Now dear Knight, did you slay the Jabberwocky?"

"I did," Zexion lied, earning another scoff from Marluxia and a low mutter of '_coward_'.

The Queen all of a sudden became angry and pointed her staff at him. "You slayed that beast but didn't bring back his _head_? What kind of knight are you?"

"My apologies," Zexion said quickly, feeling slightly nervous. "I was rushed by certain…complications in planning. I'm sure you understand."

"I DO NOT!" the Queen screeched and the jury began scribbling feverishly again. "Explain these _complications_," she sneered.

"I…" Zexion was at a loss for words and looked around the courtroom once again. This time, something caught his eye. Propped up against a lone hedge was a series of broomsticks. His eyes widened and he muttered quietly to himself, "Broomsticks…"

"WHAT?" the Queen roared.

"Nothing, Your Highness. I was just talking to myself," he excused quickly.

"You cannot speak to yourself without speaking to me first!" the Queen snarled, crossing her large arms in front of her and huffing.

"I was talking about the broomsticks over there," Zexion said quietly, leaning back and feeling his fingers tingle with the need to summon his lexicon, his only source of protection. However, he didn't want to cause an unnecessary disturbance when he was so close to taking the staff.

To his surprise, the Queen looked absolutely delighted. "Oh! You noticed them?" she said happily, twirling her staff once again.

"Uh… Yes," he replied, not entirely sure of what was going on.

"Very well, your case is dismissed!" she said sweetly, hopping down from the stand happily.

"What?" Zexion said, completely shocked.

"You are dismissed!" she snapped back irritably before joining the King in a walk through the gardens. A large mass of card soldiers followed them and the jury and spectators all followed as well. The only two left were Zexion and Marluxia who watched the crowd leave in bewilderment.

"What just happened?" Marluxia asked.

"I guess it's just one of Wonderland's strange aspects. There's no logic here," Zexion replied. "However, we should follow them and get the staff before it's too late."

"Right," Marluxia nodded, standing up and brushing off invisible dust from his coat. "Just one problem. How do we get the staff?"

"I suppose the best way to obtain it is to cause a large distraction, one capable of keeping her eyes and hands away from the staff…" Zexion paused and raised his hand to his mouth, caught in a moment of deep thought and contemplation. His eyes drifted towards Marluxia who had taken to adjusting the vines wrapped around his legs. A small grin formed on Zexion's face and he lowered his hand. "I have the perfect idea."

"What?" Marluxia asked, using his powers to loosen some vines on his legs.

"You distract the Queen by talking to her about roses or whatever it is that is in this garden. Keep her _interested_. While she's listening to you, I'll lead the card soldiers away and get the staff."

"I guess I could do that," Marluxia affirmed, looking up and nodding. "But how are you going to distract the soldiers?"

"I'm sure being the White Knight has its perks. Besides, they certainly don't have a very intelligent look to them."

"Well yeah, they're a talking deck of cards. How smart can they possibly be?" the Assassin replied with amusement.

"Indeed… Now follow the Queen and her entourage XI. You have no time to lose. I shall work at keeping the soldiers distracted. Once I take the staff, we…" Zexion sighed and shook his head.

Marluxia blinked at him. "We what?"

"I can't believe I'm saying this but due to a lack of anything else to do, once I obtain the staff, we run like we've never run before."

"Can't we just summon portals? I think that would be much easier and safer."

"XI, we're in a delicate situation as it is. Who knows how this world would react to a rift of darkness! If the Cheshire Cat was correct, nothing we think we know is the truth here. Running may as well be our best bet to a safe escape."

Marluxia sighed and nodded. "I guess that's good enough."

"Alright, now go quickly," Zexion muttered, walking to a break in the hedges. Marluxia tilted his head, nodded once, then proceeded to follow the entourage into the gardens.

* * *

Marluxia darted by several members of the Queen's group, earning some displeased mutters from members of the jury and the spectators as well as angry murmurs from several card soldiers. After a great deal of pushing and shoving, he finally reached the Queen who walked through the gardens with her head held high and her staff clutched tightly in her large fist. She looked to her side and a grin spread across her face. "Why if it isn't the darling Duke! Tell me, do you enjoy these gardens?"

"Oh, very much Your Highness," Marluxia responded, nodding quickly. "Your choice in flowers is certainly pleasing to the eyes and to the nose."

"Pleased to hear it!" the Queen said, clapping her hands and grinning jovially.

"However," Marluxia said quickly, trying to divert the Queen's attention as much as he could. "I did spot a few places where changes might have to be made."

"Are you saying my perfect garden is _imperfect_?" the Queen growled, her voice slowly rising as though preparing to scream at the Assassin.

"Oh hardly the case Your Highness. I'm merely suggesting that changes can be made to make your lovely garden twice as…no, _three_ times more pleasing as it was beforehand. You see, the fashion of gardens in Rosebury has changed, and certainly you'd like your garden to resemble one from Rosebury, right?" Marluxia asked politely, fighting back the urge to laugh hysterically at the wild lie he was creating.

"Of course my dear! Rosebury is the gardening capital after all," the Queen said sweetly, not refraining from adding some maliciousness to her tone to keep Marluxia on his toes.

"Alright then, if you'd care to follow me, I'll show you some of the improvements you could make. But I'm not entirely sure your little group back there would be so interested," he said, gesturing to the entourage who looked very bored.

"Nonsense! They love these gardens. I'm sure they'd love to accompany us!" the Queen barked, glaring back at the entourage who now looked more frightened than bored.

Marluxia bit his lip and thought quickly before smiling sweetly at the glaring Queen. "Your Highness, do you honestly want these weak-minded creatures to _steal_ your gardening ideas? You'd like to keep your garden as the loveliest, wouldn't you?"

The Queen blinked at the Assassin before whirling around to face the entourage. "All of you GO HOME! If you don't, it'll be off while ALL OF YOUR HEADS!" she screamed, flailing her arms with anger. The entourage went wide-eyed before scattering off in all sorts of directions. Only the King and a handful of card soldiers remained, and even they looked nervous. The King rose a hand to speak but his wife's murderous glare stopped him in his tracks. Satisfied with the silence of her now much smaller entourage, she turned back to face Marluxia.

"Now my dear Duke, as you were saying?"

"Of course Your Highness," Marluxia said while bowing deeply, now fighting back a giggling fit from his exaggerate movements. "I'm sure you'd like to see the new way of pruning rose bushes, yes?"

"Naturally!" the Queen beamed, fanning herself with the staff. Marluxia's eyes were trained on it and he smiled when he saw a streak of black and white just over the hedges. The streak disappeared and Marluxia grinned sweetly.

"Right this way then Your Highness."

* * *

Marching through complicated maze hedges was certainly not something Zexion was looking forward to. He had heard the ruckus of several members of the Queen's group leaving in a rush and he was pleased at least that Marluxia was living up to his end of the mission. The Schemer, however, was having no such luck. Card soldiers were scattered all around the hedges and the gardens, all watching out for intruders and suspicious people. Zexion certainly didn't want to use his powers to sway the soldiers, figuring in the factor of the strange and fragile logic of the world. However, if he wanted to get the mission done, his powers would have to do.

Sneaking through the hedges, he eyed a particular Four of Spades soldier standing by a dead end. The soldier yawned and examined his lance, admiring himself in its reflective surface. Zexion rolled his eyes before jumping through some hedges soundlessly and landing behind the soldier, concealed by the hedges in the dead end. Zexion summoned his lexicon and flipped through a few pages, finally landing on the page he wanted. He let the lexicon hover for a moment before casting his illusionary spell of choice over the unknowing soldier. The soldier wavered for a moment before dropping like a fly, fast asleep.

The Schemer waited for a moment, wondering if Wonderland would somehow react to the action. When there was no reaction, Zexion grinned uncharacteristically and jumped out of the hedge, stepping over the unconscious soldier. He hugged the lexicon to his chest and sighed. He couldn't cast the sleeping illusion on every card soldier as that would cause some inevitable problems such as keeping the illusion up constantly, but he could cast it on some.

Waving his hand in the air, dull blue sparkles descended upon the hedge maze and before Zexion knew it, a chorus of snores rose up. Satisfied, Zexion walked through the maze again, seeking out Marluxia and the Queen. Of course, there were still some soldiers roaming around and it was only a matter of time before they found their sleeping friends and raised a commotion. Zexion would have to be quick in finding the pair.

He jumped through more hedges, wincing as branches and leaves stuck to his hair and clothes. Tentatively, he sniffed the air until he detected an irritatingly strong scent of roses in the air. It had to be Marluxia, no doubt. He raced towards it, wishing deep down that he could summon a portal despite what his common sense said.

Right when he was incredibly close to the Assassin, a low humming made him stop. "'Twas brilling in the slithy toves…" it hummed cheerfully. The Schemer came to an abrupt halt and groaned.

"Oh, not you again," he murmured.

"Not pleased to see me…or not see me?" the cheerful voice sing-songed.

"Pardon my attitude, but I am certainly not in the mood to decode riddles," Zexion said simply, pushing his way through another hedge.

The disembodied Cat chortled. "Riddler, fiddler, ask me why the strings on the bow make tones so high? Up, up! said the fiddler dancing madly about. Up, up to the skies with heavens around!"

Zexion came to a halt and looked up curiously. "You are hinting and something, aren't you?"

The Cat appeared on top of a hedge, smiling as always and tilting his head back and forth madly. "Hint is such an ugly word. Help is more of a word I would choose."

Zexion backed away from the hedge he was about to leap through and smirked, folding his arms in front of him. "Alright then Cat, how do I gain your help?"

"Outsmart a rat and he will obey. Outsmart a dog and he'll follow your way. Outsmart a horse and ride through the night. Outsmart a cat and you'll earn a delight."

"So all I have to do is outsmart you and I'll get some help?"

"Maybe so. Try your luck?" the Cat asked, holding out a paw and laughing.

"Fine, how many tries do I have?"

"A trinity is three, so three it shall be," the Cat said, nodding and grinning more.

"Good, three tries is enough," Zexion agreed, putting his fingers to his lips in his trademark thinking pose. His eyes suddenly brightened and he couldn't help but smile up at the Cat. "A wise man once told me that down ways is up, that a plate and a dish were the same as a cup. A cat and a dog are in a familiar way, that night in its splendor is as same as the day. This wise man pled charity and I paid him in gruel, but what did he say that made him a fool?"

The Cat paused in thought, raising a hand to his grinning mouth in a mocking pose of Zexion's thinking pose. He grinned wider and replied. "Your wise man indeed was a fool, but alas, night is hardly in the splendor of day."

"Or is it to you?" Zexion shot back, his own grin widening. "Look at it figuratively. To a nocturnal animal, night _is_ day. To an insomniac, night is a time of peace. Understand?"

For once, the Cat frowned. It was an almost grotesque frown as it made his face contort. "Then how was this wise man a fool?"

Zexion laughed and shook his head. "Why would this so-called wise man want to be paid in gruel when he could be paid in monetary units and get something a bit better than gruel?"

The Cat blinked at the Schemer before his grin returned. "Such a ridiculous riddle, but I suppose you've outsmarted this old Cat. I am now service to you."

"Good, now how do I get the Queen's Staff?"

"Our dear Duke of Rosebury is accompanying her through the gardens, is he not?"

"He is," Zexion affirmed.

"Very well, and I suppose he has her properly distracted?"

"As much as he can I believe."

"Very well, I will assist you oh valiant White Knight. I should hope our dear Queen's staff will be used for good and hardly be thrown to darkness?"

Zexion paused and crossed his arms again. "I wouldn't exactly lie about what we're going to use it for, but I believe it would be the best choice to just keep my intentions quiet."

"Very well, dear knight. Now, while our lovely Queen is properly distracted, I shall take the liberty of taking the staff. It shall be given to you and how to escape is up to you."

"That sounds like a good plan," Zexion agreed.

"Very well then. On our way out!" the Cat chortled and put his paw on a branch sticking up from the nearly perfect hedges. With a grin as wide as it could possibly be, he pulled down on the branch and two hedges went backwards, forming a passageway. The Cat jovially laughed before disappearing, save for his maniacal grin. "Follow me! A Queen is only as patient as her roses can last her!" With that, the grin floated above the passageway and flew down it. Zexion blinked—a little stunned if anything. As soon as he got his wits together, he broke into the fastest sprint he could manage to follow the grin.

* * *

"What kind of compost do you try? I find that cut-up banana peels seem to make any rosebush happy," Marluxia chatted happily. He fiddled with some petals of a deep red rose and smiled as though it was the most fun he had ever had. The Queen also was as delighted as her flowery counterpart.

"Oh, I never thought of _banana _peels! What a delightful idea! I usually use flamingo feathers," she exclaimed.

"A little unorthodox, but nevertheless imaginative," Marluxia mused, and then turned his head slightly when he saw a blur of white in his peripheral vision. The corners of his lips twitched upwards but he composed himself. "Now how about that rosebush there? It seems bigger than the others." He led the Queen over to a slightly bigger rosebush, parallel from where Zexion was standing. Whatever Zexion had planned probably called for the Queen to be _completely_ distracted.

Zexion was indeed relieved to see that Marluxia had caught on to his presence and had made the Queen turn away. The Cat's grin hovered just above Zexion's shoulder, causing the young Schemer to be slightly uncomfortable. In the blink of an eye, the grin was hovering over the Queen's backside where the staff was placed in her girdle loosely. In less than a second, the staff was hovering just below the grin before floating back to Zexion. He grabbed the staff and nodded at the grin. "Thank you," he said silently and the grin just widened more before completely disappearing.

Marluxia saw the staff hover away and turned to see Zexion standing by a hedge, smiling triumphantly—if not a little uncharacteristically, with the staff in hand. Marluxia grinned back before turning to the Queen. "My lady, I'm afraid I must take my leave. It's been a pleasure!" he said, tipping his hat, and then doing the fastest sprint he could manage back to Zexion. The Queen blinked and looked back, her eyes widening at the sight of the staff in Zexion's hand.

"YOU! GIVE ME THAT BACK!" she roared, waddling quickly towards the pair. They looked at each other, half in panic and half in amusement, before taking off through the hedges as fast as their legs could carry them. "OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!" they heard from behind them as the ground seemed to shake from the Queen's pseudo-sprint. All around them, card soldiers were waking up; their faces perfect images of fatigue. Marluxia smiled at Zexion, getting out words through gasps for breath.

"Looks like you knocked 'em out. Good job."

"Hah," Zexion panted. "Just a little illusionary work. Nothing special."

"Right, nothing special," Marluxia laughed, trying to keep his pace. He managed to duck under an axe swinging from an awake card soldier. When he brought his head back up, he turned to Zexion. "Can I?"

Zexion caught on and managed a small smile. "Alright, I don't see why not."

"Thanks," the Assassin managed to say through heavy breaths. He slammed his heels forward, stopping himself comically. He whirled around as Zexion kept running, summoning his scythe. His fingers curled around it, shaking with excitement as he saw an onslaught of card soldiers making a dash at him. "Oh, this'll be fun," he muttered as he pulled the scythe back and slammed it forward, three large pink and black projectiles flying at the soldiers and knocking them over like bowling pins. The projectiles managed to tear up a few hedges in the process, much to Marluxia's dismay. His gardener's instinct winced at the sight. Even so, he kept his grip on his scythe and dashed off after Zexion.

* * *

Once the two reached the courtroom, it seemed as though every card soldier in Wonderland was after them. They were approaching from all sides, attempting to trap the duo. Marluxia was slicing away with his scythe, but the soldiers seemed to replace their fallen comrades as fast as they went down. He grimaced and faltered slightly, looking to Zexion wearily. "How're we gonna get rid of all of them?"

"There has to be a way…" Zexion said, thinking back to any weakness the soldiers might have. He closed his eyes tightly and touched his forehead as though trying to fight off a headache. '_Play a few games of cards,_' suddenly flashed through his memory and his eyes shot open. "XI, do you remember anything about card games?"

"What kind of question is that? We're about to get chopped to ribbons and you're thinking about card games?"

"Assess your enemy and find a weakness. Don't you remember anything Superior says?"

"I hardly listen," Marluxia responded with a slight laugh. "But I have an idea of what you're talking about. It makes me wish Luxord was here."

"That's it! How many times has Luxord beaten you at any game of cards?"

"Uh, every single time, why?"

"Alright, and did he ever explain why you keep losing?"

"Because I have the world's worst poker face?"

"So he called your bluff," Zexion said, his mind racing at speeds only he could manage.

"Yeah, basically. Is that what we have to do?"

"Yes, find a fault in their line. Call their bluff, if you will."

"Okay, how?"

"Look for a weakness, _any_ weakness. They have to have one."

"Well, they are made of paper."

"…XI, this is the only time I'm going to say this. You're a _genius_."

Marluxia turned to face the Schemer, his eyes wide. "What did you just say?"

"You heard me and I'm not going to say it again. Now I have one thing I want you to do, and I'm going to use a horrible analogy to get the point across."

"Oh, and what might that be?"

Zexion let the smallest of smiles creep on his face. "Cut the deck."

Marluxia let out a snort before pulling his scythe back. His eyes glimmered and he could feel every muscle in his arm ripple as he summoned his strength. He swung the scythe around in a 180-degree slice and a projectile flew from the blade, running in a 360-degree circle around them, cutting through every card soldier just like the paper they were made of. Thousands of strips of paper flew everywhere like confetti and Marluxia let out a holler of victory. "Alright! Now let's get out of here!"

"I completely agree," Zexion said, running through the shower of paper.

* * *

They reached the forest in record time and didn't hesitate diving into it. Both landed on their feet and sighed in relief. Marluxia let the summoned scythe disappear and rubbed his shoulder. "I didn't know I could do that."

"That was a good display of offense."

"You could just say 'good job' and it would have the same effect, you know," Marluxia said with amusement. Zexion just rolled his eyes and looked around the dark forest before lifting his nose and tentatively sniffing the air. He turned slightly and gestured in the direction he faced.

"The ship is that way."

"Thank you Mister Hound Dog," Marluxia snorted and began walking. Zexion sighed and followed behind him. He stopped suddenly when he heard a soft chirping sound. Marluxia whirled around, his eyes suddenly alight. Much to his joy, a pair of green eyes were looking at them through the bushes. A soft brushing sound came from the bush and "Demyx" scuttled out of the bush, chirping jovially at the sight of the pair. Marluxia wasted no time in picking him up and nuzzling him. "Aw, good to see you Demyx!"

Zexion walked in front of Demyx and looked at him emotionlessly. "Would you mind leading us back to the ship? We already know what direction to go in." Of course, Zexion felt very awkward talking to a brush again. Demyx chirped happily and spun around before pointing in the same direction as Zexion had faced beforehand. The Schemer nodded in approval and Marluxia cooed at the brush creature before they began walking towards the ship.

For some reason, it took much longer walking back to the ship as it had seemed to take to walk away from it. As before, the forest began getting darker and yet again, Demyx was getting scared again. However, this time, the aura was much different. The forest had gone eerily still. None of the strange creatures were making any noise and even the wind seemed to go silent. Marluxia looked around suspiciously, keeping a hold on the frightened brush-creature. Zexion just persisted forward, ignoring the silence.

"Zexy, something seems off. Smell the air or something," Marluxia whispered.

"There is nothing wrong XI," Zexion stated flatly.

"_Please_ smell the air? There's really something wrong."

The Schemer groaned and reluctantly lifted the air, taking in a small whiff of the air. "See, nothing is—…" He suddenly paused and smelled the air again.

"What is it?" Marluxia asked, suddenly very alert. Demyx trembled in his grasp and hid behind Marluxia's see-through coat.

"That smell… That can't be right," Zexion murmured to himself, taking in a large breath and waiting for a moment. "No… It is." His eyes suddenly went wide and he turned to Marluxia. "Get the scythe back out."

"What is it?" the Assassin asked again, much more persistently this time. However, Zexion didn't have time to answer before an ear-piercing roar shattered the silence. Marluxia paled and Demyx let out a squeak of fear. "That can't be the Jabberwocky, _can it_?"

"It is," Zexion responded solemnly before breaking into a run more fueled by adrenaline than his previous run. Marluxia ignored the command to get the scythe out and instead took off after the younger member.

The extremely loud noise of trees snapping in half filled the air as the hulking form of the Jabberwocky flew over them. Zexion turned his head to look at Marluxia who was clutching Demyx to his chest and sprinting with all of his energy. "I thought you killed it!" Zexion yelled over the roaring and the crashing going on around them.

"I thought I did too!" Marluxia yelled back, looking up at the unmistakable form of the beast he was sure he had decapitated earlier. Demyx screeched in fear as the Jabberwocky swooped down and ducked its head down, scooping up Marluxia in Zexion in a swift movement.

Both the Schemer and the Assassin had their eyes shut tight as they were unexpectedly picked up. Marluxia opened his eyes first to see that the Jabberwocky had them on its back and was soaring high above the forest. "Z-Zexy, what's going on?" Zexion slowly opened his eyes and looked around, a bit stunned by their most unusual position.

"I think we're going to be eaten," he said bluntly, wide-eyed. Just after he said that, the Jabberwocky let out a strange groaning noise, almost sounding apologetic. Marluxia cocked his head and Demyx peek out from behind the jacket.

"Zexion, did it just do what I think it did?"

"I believe so. I think it's taking us to the Gummi Ship. Is this the same Jabberwocky?"

The Jabberwocky let out a low groan again as though approving. Marluxia tilted his head and sighed in frustration. "What the heck is going on?"

Zexion brought up his knees and rested his head on them, groaning irritably. "Oh, screw logic."

* * *

Just as Zexion had thought, the Jabberwocky brought them to the Gummi ship that was left exactly as they had left it. The two (or three if you counted "Demyx") eagerly slid down the back of the Jabberwocky and darted over to the Gummi ship, Zexion's hand close to the dagger just in case the beast had lured them into a false sense of security. It lowered its massive head and drooled, groaning again apologetically. Marluxia rolled his eyes at it. "Don't tell me it's _apologizing_ for us _decapitating_ it."

Another regretting groan came out and the pink-haired sighed. "I don't even know anymore. I'm going to be _very_ happy to leave this world." The Jabberwocky bowed its head for a moment after he said that before stomping awkwardly back into the forest, seeming to leap from foot to foot while keeping a hunchbacked posture. The duo watched it hop back before turning towards the ship. Marluxia gently urged Demyx away from his jacket and brought him up to see eye-to-eye with him. "Sorry Demyx, I'm going to have to leave you here. I don't think Xemnas would like me having a pet…brush."

Demyx mewled sadly as Marluxia set him on the ground. He looked up at the two with wide eyes, make a strange sniffling noise. Marluxia frowned and turned to Zexion who just shook his head. The Assassin sighed and turned back, looking down. "No, sorry, I can't take you with me. I wish I could though." The little brush sighed sadly and lowered itself further on the ground, sniffling more.

"Come on XI. I'd like to get out of this world before I go mad."

"Oh alright…" Marluxia sighed, following the younger member onto the ship.

In a few moments, the engines fired up and the Gummi ship slowly rose into the air, hovering for a moment. The two peered through the windows and Marluxia breathed through his nose harshly. "I'm not gonna miss this place, even if the roses were great."

"I'm not going to miss it at all. Everyone was absolutely…demented."

"Totally," Marluxia and sat down in his chair, keeping himself upright and pressing his hands against the sides of it in preparation of the forces of gravity doomed to come. Zexion pressed several buttons and pulled a lever before taking a place in his own chair, also preparing for the sudden gravitational pull.

The ship took off without a hitch, leaving a long vapor trail over the skies of Wonderland. A pair of glimmering yellow eyes gazed at it before a large grin appeared underneath it. "Dear White Knight, oh poor _heartless_ Knight… Can't you see? We're all mad here!" The grin laughed maniacally before fading away into the darkness of the forest.


	6. Omission

Oh man, I am so sorry that this is so late. There was a lot going on in life and it took me forever to get around to this. XP And I learned I really need to stop saying my next chapter is going to be better because I'm just jinxing myself now. I had no will to write for awhile but eventually finished it up. I probably tortured my poor beta with this story and she's probably ready to kill me. XD I love her like crazy though.

So I came to a few conclusions on this fic. The first is that I'm now making Marluxia's OOC-ness a purposeful thing. There will be an interesting idea behind it. Second, as far as fitting in with the regular KH timeline, this is before Marluxia was appointed to being Superior of Castle Oblivion. Of course, this may only be official until 358/2 comes out and all of it is ruined again. XD But I just started playing COM and am now piecing everything together. Third, I'm definitely starting to hint as to who Zexion and Marluxia's Somebodies are. I think you can start guessing about Marluxia starting in this chapter!

And thank you all for being so ridiculously patient with me. Life is starting to sort itself out now so I should be able to get right back on writing. (And don't mind my French in this! I only took three years! XD)

DISCLAIMER: Noooo owning. Disney and Squeenix oooown.

* * *

FRENCH TRANSLATIONS!

Je ne parle pas l'anglaise. - I don't speak English.

Qui il y a? - Who is there?

Je ne sais pas! - I don't know!

Nous sommes ici de voir Monsieur Wilburn! - We're here to see Mr. Wilburn!

Ma nom est Lumaria, et l'homme à côté de moi est mon fiancé. - My name is Lumaria, and the man next to me is my fiance.

Quel est votre travail? - What is your work?

Ma fiancé est un homme d'affaires. - My fiance is a businessman.

Non, je ne suis pas française. - No, I am not French.

Robes? Que signifiez-vous? - Dresses? What are you talking about?

E-eh, je pense il y a eu une erreur. - Um, I think there has been a mistake.

Non, vraiment. Je ne suis pas supposé pour être ici. - No really. I'm not supposed to be here.

* * *

"Ugh…" Marluxia muttered while attempting to peel himself from his seat after the unusually strong forces of gravity had smashed him into his seat. "I hate gravity. I really do." He paused and managed to sit up and stretch himself out. Zexion on the other hand was examining the staff they had retrieved from Wonderland.

"XI, have you any idea how to use this staff?"

"Nope, not a clue. Why?" Marluxia responded, plopping down on his seat and looking at the Schemer.

"I have a feeling that possibly, this staff may have powers beyond what we had believed."

"What gives you that idea?"

"The Cheshire Cat said something about the Queen giving out hearts, not just a heart. He used it in the plural form."

"Maybe he made a mistake," Marluxia shrugged.

Zexion shook his head and turned the staff over in his hands. "No, he was far too smart to make a grammatical mistake. Possibly, he was referring to the heart suit soldiers. However, my intuition tells me that he might have been talking about the staff.

"So what you're saying is that the staff might have control over hearts?"

"More or less, but we'll wait until our mission is finished to even begin to draw theories about it. We have more important things to deal with."

Marluxia let his gaze rest on the staff for a moment and felt a strange tug in his chest, right where his heart should have been. He stayed silent and turned his gaze to the floor, sighing wistfully. "Yeah, right… So where are we going next?"

"The Devil's Bayou," Zexion said. "I've done plenty of research that will enable us to fit in well. Unfortunately, the Devil's Bayou and all surrounding bayous are incredibly swampy and humid, two conditions I surely don't appreciate. Also, according to my research, some of the dwellers of these bayous have a very peculiar language."

"Cajun," Marluxia said automatically.

Zexion blinked at him and nodded slowly. "Yes, did you do research?"

"Uh… No, actually. I just kind of…knew it," Marluxia answered, bewildering himself. "I know it's like French but it's not quite the same, and it's a unique culture as well."

"Are you sure you didn't research?"

"Absolutely positive," the Assassin affirmed.

"Well, alright. Nevertheless, yes, they do speak Cajun. Unfortunately, I don't speak a word of it, but I can mimic the accents and dialects of the people."

"I suppose I can attempt to speak something. I have a feeling I might know some French," Marluxia mused, looking up at the expansive universe through the glass bubble surrounding the cockpit. "I guess if I knew what Cajun was, I might know a thing or two about where it came from."

"Perhaps it's coming from your Somebody," Zexion thought aloud, raising a hand to his lips in his thinking pose. "After all, you rely on your memories the most out of the group, possibly as much as our Nocturne," he said snidely.

"You really think so?" Marluxia asked, now interested.

"I suppose it's a good theory," the Schemer muttered.

"Well, what about you? Do you remember anything from your Somebody?"

"The only things I remember are what I chose to remember, which is all that took place at Hollow Bastion. Before that, there are no memories."

"Oh…" Marluxia said, feeling a little disappointed that he didn't get more out of the enigmatic Schemer. "Well… Anything else about the Devil's Bayou that we should keep in mind?" he asked, attempting to change the subject.

"There are an astounding number of villains there, most of which are primarily harmless. However, there has been a recent rumor of a large diamond that is drawing in a much more sinister crowd. It's not exactly a paradisiacal establishment," Zexion said, looking back through the glass at the void before him.

"That, I can believe," Marluxia answered. "How far is it now?"

Zexion checked the small radar screen where a light green blip flickered not far from the center. "Oh, I'd say about another sixty miles yet. I'm just now starting to smell it."

Marluxia couldn't help but grin. "What's this one smell like?"

"Swamp… Unhealthy amounts of swamp," the blue-haired teen answered dully.

"So I'm thinking this bayou has lots of plant life?" Marluxia asked hopefully.

"Much to my chagrin," Zexion answered.

The Assassin grinned in delight. "Alright, I feel much better about this world. Bayous usually have some pretty rare plants in them, and it's perfect growing conditions. I mean, there's a whole lot of nutrients in that water, perfect for growing some sub-tropical plants. Oh, arrowheads grow there often, and I've heard it's all great conditions for blue flags to grow!"

"That's all very fine and fascinating XI, but I'd appreciate it if you keep your mind on the mission and not on flowers, for once."

"Ugh, fine," Marluxia groaned, sliding down a little in his seat. "You suck the fun out of everything."

"I've been told that a number of times," Zexion replied emotionlessly.

"Ever think about improving it?"

"No."

Marluxia shrugged and pushed himself back up in his seat. "Your loss. Who knows? They might have a library there."

"Oh, you're hilarious," Zexion muttered.

* * *

It didn't take much time before a dark green and brown spot appeared in the distance and Zexion's hand was clamped over his nose. He coughed a few times and recoiled to his seat. "I _hate_ swamps," he spat. "It smells like…"

"Like swamp?" Marluxia helped.

"Yes, like swamp," Zexion said while rolling his eyes. He looked down at the control panel and sighed. "I suppose I should prepare to make our landing."

"Sounds good to me. I'm just wondering what we're going to be next."

"Judging by the general appearance of this world, I'd suppose we would become something akin to a villain or anything considered at the bottom of the social ladder."

"Well, whatever it is, it'll be interesting."

"You can be sure of that XI," Zexion replied, pressing several buttons and pulling the silver lever. The ship's engines groaned behind them and they were soon coming on fast to the world. The green and brown splotches of the world became bigger and bigger until they were completely immersed in a thick canopy of trees.

Before long, they had landed in the marshy soil of a small island in the bayou. The world itself was dark and dim and the water of the bayou was still and stagnant. Marluxia peered out of the window and grimaced. "Well, this wasn't what I was expecting." He turned to Zexion who had gone from his normal porcelain-white color to a sickly green. His hand was over his mouth and he was wincing. Marluxia couldn't help but smirk. "You don't look very good Zexy."

"I'm fine," Zexion choked out, fighting a surge of vomit. "I just have to get used to the stench, that's all." However, he didn't have much time to get used to the smell as his coat began to glow. Marluxia's also glowed until both let of the strong white light, and then dissipated in a flurry of white sparkles.

Marluxia's hair had become a light brown and had flattened from the transformation and his eyes had stayed the same color, as had his skin. However, he had gotten slightly shorter and a little curvier then before, although it was hard to tell with the baggy clothing he was wearing. A dark brown jacket covered his torso and black work pants clung to his hips. He wore large boots, obviously made for marching through swamps. Around his neck was a small string necklace, an ivory white skull hanging from it.

Zexion had also undergone a drastic transformation. He was clothed in a black suit that fit his now taller form nicely. A pair of polished black boots covered his feet. Under a black driver's hat was a mess of blackish-blue hair, falling in his face and over a set of dark blue eyes, hidden behind a pair of sunglasses, one lens oddly missing. His appearance automatically perplexed him and he looked to Marluxia who was also surprised. "XI, do you have any clue what we're supposed to be?"

"Sorry, I hardly know what I am. However, I think you were right about looking like a villain. You're looking like pretty evil."

"I suppose I am. This is a most unusual transformation."

"Well, appearances aside, what are we supposed to do? I'm guessing this island isn't where we're supposed to be looking for the Devil's Eye."

"No, it isn't. And it may prove to be difficult to find means to get off this island, seeing as how we lack the items and the resources to do so."

"Why don't we just make a portal and get out of here?"

Zexion glared at him from over the one-lensed sunglasses. "XI, have you not heard anything I've said to you during this mission? Creating a portal in such fragile conditions is not exactly a decisive plan of action."

"The world we're in right now doesn't exactly look _fragile_, now does it?" Marluxia retorted icily.

"That does not mean we should not take precautions! We're not exactly in a familiar setting."

"Portals work everywhere else Zexion! You go to Land of Dragons and they work. You go to Deep Jungle, and oh guess what? They work! You go to Port Royal and…you'll never guess this one! _They work_! I can't for the life of me see why portals wouldn't work here. Sure, I took precautions in Wonderland because everything is absolutely insane there, but this is a bayou! It's not as if freaky grinning cats are going to appear on trees and give you obscure riddles because they think it's funny! Last time I checked, ugly dragon-things don't pop out of bayous and try to _eat you_, now do they? I'm pretty sure it'd be perfectly safe to use a portal out here."

The Schemer glared at Marluxia and let out a small, unintelligible mumble. "Alright," he finally said, "If you want to use a portal, go right ahead. However, I'm staying on this island and will find a better means of leaving."

"You're going to be stuck here for awhile," Marluxia sneered, already climbing down the ladder to get out of the ship. Zexion sighed heavily and followed after him.

* * *

The bayou's climate conditions were certainly less than desirable. The air was hot and thick with humidity. A mist hovered just above the water like a permanent sheet. The sky appeared to be constantly dark and grey, giving the bayou a lifeless and gloomy look. Crickets chirped somewhere in the distance while a troupe of bullfrogs croaked within the forest-like swamp. The water was hardly making noise, save for a soft trickling noise of small waves hitting the shore of the island.

Zexion took a small whiff of the air before recoiling once again. "Honestly, I cannot imagine what is in these bayous that make them smell so completely atrocious."

"It could just be peat. Peat smells pretty bad unless it's being burnt. If not, the water might just be stagnant," Marluxia offered, also taking a sniff of air. He sighed and nodded. "Yeah, smells stagnant."

"Hopefully one of the steamboats is nearby. Even a thin wooden wall is enough to stifle some of this stench," Zexion grumbled. He sniffed the air again, and even though he winced, a small smile broke onto his face. "One of the boats is near. There's a lot of coal and steam and…alcohol floating around."

"Oh really?" Marluxia perked up.

"Yes, really."

"Too bad you don't have supersonic hearing. You could hear if there was a party going on or not."

"Judging by the smell of cheap fermented alcohol, I can only assume there's a rather questionable gathering, an exciting one at that."

"Hah, I knew the portal would come in handy around here!" Marluxia said triumphantly. He held his hand out to summon the portal and grinned. However, no portal appeared. He looked at his hand before sticking it out again to summon, yet nothing happened. Zexion merely smirked before sitting down on the small shore of the island.

"I told you to be cautious, but no, no one_ ever _listens to me," he snorted.

"Maybe I just need to work on it a bit more," the Assassin protested, shoving his hand out and going as far to wiggle his fingers in an attempt to summon the door of darkness. Yet no portal appeared. He growled and stuck both hands out, making straining noises and nearly jumping around to get the portal to appear. Still, there was nothing.

"XI, you're going to give yourself a heart attack," Zexion smirked.

There was a long pause before Marluxia turned to the Schemer. "Zexion, did you just make a joke?"

"Did I?" Zexion asked, still smirking.

"Wow, I didn't know you had a sense of humor," Marluxia commented, and then resumed his struggle to summon a portal. He tried numerous times, yet nothing happened. There wasn't even a wisp of darkness in the air.

"Nothing is going to happen XI," Zexion said, watching a lone tadpole streak along just under the water's surface.

"That's what you think," Marluxia snapped, and then held out one hand to summon his scythe. As before, nothing happened. He gazed, completely bewildered, at his hand which was filled with…nothing. "Okay, what is going on?" he asked, flexing his hands as though that would change anything.

"Your powers may be rendered useless in this place," the Schemer responded. "However, if it makes you feel better, I may try to summon my weapon."

Marluxia rolled his eyes and snorted. "That book is hardly a weapon."

Zexion ignored him and held out his hands just inches from his chest. A faint sparkle dusted across his fingertips before the lexicon fully appeared. Marluxia's jaw dropped and he darted over to where the Schemer was sitting. "How did you do that?"

"Perhaps my powers are more fitting to this world than yours are."

"That makes no sense! We're both in the Organization! There shouldn't be a difference!"

"Possibly illusion reigns over flora here," Zexion said simply, his lexicon disappearing.

"Then how about you summon a portal!"

"XI, I have already stated my position on the subject of summoning portals. I will certainly not summon one for your leisure."

"But you just summoned your book," Marluxia protested.

"First of all, it's called a _lexicon_. Second, my weapon is not in the same spectrum of Organization-based powers as portal-summoning."

"They both come out of the darkness. They _should_ be in the same spectrum."

Zexion closed his eyes and adjusted his sunglasses slightly. "Alas, they are _not_. Now if you will pardon me, I am going to attempt to find a way off this island."

"Oh, how about we use your lexi-whatever to make a boat! Oh wait, even better, how about we throw it into the water and see if we can float on it!" the Assassin snapped, crossing his arms in front of him. Just as he said it, a faint trickling noise was heard, followed by a soft crash of waves. The sounds repeated themselves and Zexion took the time to sniff the air.

"There's wood…and fish, and…human," he said flatly. "There's a fishing boat out there."

Marluxia looked at Zexion with bewilderment. "Honestly, how do you do that?"

"An unfortunate talent," Zexion shrugged, watching the waters of the bayou. Out of the thick curtain of mist, a large black shape appeared. It got larger and larger until the outline of a single man in a rowboat appeared. He looked behind his shoulder before rowing faster, right towards the island.

It didn't take much longer before the small boat landed on the shore. The man rowing was an older gentleman, a pair of wiry glasses perched on the end of his hooked nose. He wore an old straw hat with a brown and black feather sticking out of the straw like a strange trophy. A pair of overalls covered him and a bucket of small silver fish sat in between his boot-laden feet. He smiled up at the men, showing about seven teeth. "Evenin' friends! What brings ya to the bayou?"

"Good evening sir," Zexion replied, bowing slightly. He changed his accent to be a lighter and more elegant version of the old man's accent. "We're tryin' to acquire the location of a certain steamboat. Know about it?"

The old man let out a raspy laugh and gestured around him. "Sir, this entire bayou is filled with them old steamships. Yer gonna have to be more spe...speci… Yer gonna have to describe it better."

"Well, it should be one with a party going on right now, one a little to the south of this island."

"Aw shucks, you ain't talkin' about Dallas Wilburn's steamship, are ya?"

"Is it the only one with a party?"

"Yes sir! Ever since that there Devil's Eye came around in the local talk, everyone who owns one of them ships all but cleared out, 'cept Dallas. He just wants to make money, that's all."

"Is it at all possible that you could take us to Mr. Wilburn's establishment?" Zexion asked politely.

"Aw, you don't wanna go there sir," the old man said, his eyes fixed on the water. "Ain't nothin' but a bunch of rough-housin' troublemakers."

"Well my good man, I have a proposition to make with the proprietor this evenin'. You see, I've been lookin' for the Eye myself. However, I'm in the right mind to do it, as I have enough money and human force to retrieve the object. Perhaps Mr. Dallas Wilburn wouldn't mind lending me a good steamship in order to make some profit?" Zexion said hopefully, taking off his sunglasses and wiping the single lens on the end of his jacket.

"Hmm…" the old man muttered. "I suppose it ain't gonna hurt anything. Alright, you and your lady friend can hop on in my boat."

"Lady frie-!" Marluxia half-exclaimed before Zexion practically slapped a hand over his mouth. He shot the Assassin an icy glare that shut him up instantly. They slowly got into the boat, Marluxia shooting glares at the old man whose vision was so bad that he was obviously oblivious.

"It's a good night tonight, better'n lately. You came on a lucky night, I declare," he said.

"Really now?" Zexion asked, pretending to be interested.

"Oh yeah, this ol' bayou's been through one heck of a streak of bad weather. We got more rain than ever before. Some superstitious folks been sayin' it's the Devil's Eye that's been causin' our misfortune. There's been floods and winds that's brought some houses straight down. Some steamships been afraid to come this way, and rightly so. Ain't a good place to be lately," he rasped, using his skinny arms to row his way through the misty bayou.

"Then how come you've stayed around?" Zexion asked.

"Aw, I'm so used to livin' here, I can't bear to leave. However, I've been thinkin' 'bout leavin' lately, since I have a nasty neighbor."

"Oh?"

"She's a nasty ol' woman, a pawn shop owner I've heard, come all the way from one of them big north cities. Goes by the name of Madame Medusa, if you can believe it."

Marluxia looked at Zexion expectantly, a small grin on his face. "I think we have a lead," he whispered.

"Indeed."

"So what's a fine lady like yourself doin' with this boy?" the old man asked, his seven-toothed grin breaking across his face. Marluxia made a face as to scream at the old man but Zexion nudged him hard in the ribs and caused him to stop. He looked down at his boots and sighed.

"Je ne parle pas l'anglaise," he said in his most girlish voice. Zexion looked at him in surprise and Marluxia only shrugged.

"Aw, you got a French girl?"

"Cajun," Zexion corrected, rolling his eyes when Marluxia mockingly bat his eyelashes at him.

"She from around here?"

"Yes, that's how I came to know of this place."

The old man grinned again and let out a quiet wheeze. "Them Cajun girls are a real prize. You must've done somethin' good to get her to go for ya."

"A lot of money and some charm is all it takes sir," the Schemer said, nudging Marluxia in the ribs again when the Assassin made the face as if to burst into a laughing fit.

"Good job boy. Now how come she don't speak English?"

"She was raised in a French-speaking home sir."

"Aw, that makes sense. Oh, there's Dallas's ship!" the old man exclaimed, pointing somewhere over Zexion's shoulder. The two members turned to see a large steamboat floating in the water, two twin iron pipes topped with black crowns seemed to run straight through it. Chipped white paint covered every bit of the exterior, save for the balconies, which were painted a bright red. A large rotating paddlewheel was mounted on the back, moving very slowly through the opaque water. On the side of the boat were the words 'The Devil's Lady' painted on the side in bright red and gold paint. Lights glittered on their strings on the outside, and a low humming noise came from the shimmering inside.

"Bien," Marluxia said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Let me just row you two up to the back and see if one of the men on the ship'll take you up there." The old man stood up in the boat, causing it to wobble dangerously. He waved his arms slowly and shouted up at the ship. "Hey! Anybody up there?"

Someone darted out of the ship and leaned over one of the balconies. "Qui il y a?"

"What'd he say?" the old man asked, looking down at Marluxia.

"'E asked who ees there," Marluxia asked in a natural-sounding French accent.

"I thought she said she couldn't speak English?"

"A little bit," Marluxia said, tilting his head from side to side in emphasis.

"Oh, alright," the old man said, and then turned back to the person on the balcony. "My name is Humphrey Brown! I have some visitors for Mr. Wilburn!"

"Je ne sais pas!" the person shouted back.

"'E said he doesn't know," Marluxia said, resting his head on his hand.

"Aw, why don't you talk to him then?"

"Eh?"

"Tell him who we are," Zexion said, smirking evilly at Marluxia.

"Ugh," Marluxia said, then stood up in the boat. "Nous sommes ici de voir Monsieur Wilburn!"

"Qui il y a?" the person asked again.

"Ma nom est Lumaria, et l'homme à côté de moi est mon fiancé."

"Quel est votre travail?" the person asked.

"Ma fiancé est un homme d'affaires," Marluxia answered, looking to Zexion with semi-disgust.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Zexion asked, obviously not understanding a word the two were saying to each other. He was also perplexed as to why Marluxia knew French, but he decided that conversation was best saved until later.

"Bien, monter ici," the man replied, throwing down a small rope ladder. Marluxia jumped onto it first, followed by Zexion. The Schemer turned to the old man, apparently named Humphrey, and tipped his hat politely. "Thank you for the ride here sir."

"My pleasure!" Humphrey replied, sitting back down and rowing away into the darkening mist.

* * *

Once onboard, the man left Marluxia and Zexion alone on the deck, walking back inside. Zexion removed his hat and moved some of his hair away from his face. "XI, it perplexes me now more than ever as to why you know French."

"I really can't explain it," Marluxia answered, lowering his eyes slightly. "It just came out. It's like it was just natural. Maybe it was like you said, how it was my Somebody instead of me."

"That theory is becoming more clear to me now. From what I could understand of your conversation, you said a most unusual name. Were you introducing yourself?"

"Yeah," the Assassin affirmed.

"Yet you used a name much like your own instead of your name now."

"I thought it sounded more girly, since apparently I'm a woman," Marluxia said bitterly.

"Gender aside, the name did sound similar to the name you answer to."

"Lumaria?"

"Yes, did you just make it up?"

"Um, not really. It just popped into my head, like French."

"I have a speculation that Lumaria was your Somebody's name. However, we can figure this out later. For now, we must find a way to speak with Dallas Wilburn." He turned to face one of the windows and peeked inside. Within the ship, a grand party appeared to be going on, if not a questionable one. The entire inside was littered with tables and chairs, which in turn were filled with drunken or over-excited people, all swaying to the music or trying to hit on the scantily clad waitresses. If they weren't going for the waitresses, they were staring at the line of burlesque dancers on the stage. "Ugh, hedonism at its finest," Zexion groaned.

"What are you talking about?"

"It's full of pleasure-seekers and more villains than I have ever seen."

Marluxia walked up next to him and peeked in. "Wow, that's one heck of a party. See anyone who looks like his name could be Dallas?"

"I believe _that_ is who we are looking for," Zexion said, pointing at a tall and gaunt man at the back of the room, sitting in a large red plush chair, a glass of wine in one hand and a cigar in the other. Behind him was a large throng of women, all chattering to each other like birds. Beside him was a skinny and rather ugly woman with a swoop of red hair, a hooked nose, and a small red dress that certainly didn't cater to her figure. She sneered at everyone and gingerly sipped from a glass of champagne.

"Yeah, that has to be our guy," Marluxia affirmed.

"Hey!" a loud voice boomed from behind them. The two whirled around to see a large, muscled man standing in front of the railing, arms crossed and eyes like embers in his head. "You're not supposed to be up here!" he rumbled.

"I'm terribly sorry," Zexion said, tipping his hat.

"What're you doin' up here?" the man growled. He turned his head to look at Marluxia and his stone-like face softened. "Aw, you got a lady here."

Zexion quickly elbowed Marluxia in the ribs to keep the scythe-wielder from launching himself at the man. Marluxia just coughed and glowered at the man. Zexion looked back up at the man and nodded. "Yes I do."

"She here for the job offer?"

"Yes sir," Zexion answered, finding himself clueless for the moment.

"Well, I'll take her inside. And you should be getting' back to wherever you came from," he said, taking Marluxia's arm. The Assassin in question cast Zexion a frightened glance. Zexion bit his lip and sighed.

"I personally have an appointment to meet with Mr. Wilburn."

"Go right in. I'm sure you can find your way to him. He's the sniveling hog in the chair."

"Yes, thank you. And please be careful with…her."

"No worries. Me and the missus here will be just fine," the man said, yanking Marluxia after him as he walked away. Marluxia gave Zexion a look that screamed 'I'm going to break your neck for this later!' before completely disappearing into the ship, leaving Zexion completely alone on the deck. He wasn't truly worried for Marluxia's well-being; since he was sure the Assassin knew enough defensive techniques that the man who had taken him away would probably be the consistency of pudding by the end of the night. He took the chance to sneak inside the glittering ship, his target being the greasy-looking Dallas Wilburn. At least the conversation would be interesting.

* * *

Marluxia was hauled through hallways within the ship, his arm feeling like it was ready to rip out of its socket. If the situation wasn't as it was, the man pulling him to whatever their destination was would certainly regret being born. However, that wasn't the case. He now had to follow whatever directions he was given until he could find a way to get out, or Zexion could.

At the very thought of the Cloaked Schemer, Marluxia couldn't help but growl. The little brat had just let him be pulled off to heaven-knows-where without the blink of an eye. Next to that, he had called him a woman! '_It's the hair. It has to be the hair,_' Marluxia told himself. He let out a quiet and unplanned yelp as he was nearly thrust at a door. The overpowering scent of cheap perfume and linens filled the air and Marluxia had a faint idea of where he had been taken.

"You better listen to everything Madame Moreau has to say. She ain't a nice lady 'less you do what she says," the large man rumbled before walking back to wherever he had come from. Marluxia stared at the door for a moment, considering what his next action should be. He could sneak around the boat for a way out and maybe help Zexion, or he could see what this 'job' was and possibly get closer to Dallas Wilburn and the Devil's Eye. It was a hard decision, but he finally settled on finding out what was behind the door. His intuition told him it wasn't at all a wise idea, yet his curiosity won over common sense and he knocked on it.

The door was practically ripped off its hinges as a large and remarkably hairy woman answered. She was almost six feet tall with the body type of a gorilla. Her hair was pulled into a tight silvery bun at the very top of her head, yet more of her hair was on her face and arms than anywhere else. Marluxia could feel a tiny fountain of vomit surge up his throat, but he kept it down where it belonged. "'Ou are you?" the woman asked.

"Je suis Lumaria," Marluxia said quickly, hoping his French could have her go easier on him.

"Ah, we have French girl for job. That ees good," she said, looking at Marluxia as though inspecting him for any imperfections.

"A-ah, non, je ne suis pas française," he answered, wincing as he had to use the feminine form of French. If this wasn't an ego-crusher, nothing else in the world could be.

"Not French? How can that be? Are you Cajun?"

"Oui!"

"Ah, you are cheap French," the woman laughed, obviously amused by her own joke. "Well, as they say here, beggars cannot be winners, or something like that. Go get one of ze dresses from ze girls in the back."

"Robes? Que signifiez-vous?" Marluxia asked in panic. He surely didn't expect to be ordered to get a dress.

"Yes, dresses. Now go get one or you will regret it!" the woman screeched before dashing off to the other side of the room. Standing in the stuffy room, Marluxia suddenly wished Zexion was there as he felt terribly alone. He shuffled along to the room where the girls were supposed to be.

As he walked in, his eyes widened. The room was completely filled with mirrors, vanities, and dress racks galore. Moreover, within the room where a dozen or so girls, all dressed like burlesque dancers. They chattered nervously before looking up at him. He felt as though he had just become three feet smaller. He swallowed deeply before smiling nervously and waving. "E-eh, bonjour."

A young woman with cascades of fiery red hair and a dress that didn't leave much to imagination walked up to him, hands on her hips. "And who might you be?"

"Je suis Lumaria," he repeated, taking a step backwards. If it were a room full of men, they would have all been smashed to the ground without a hitch. However, it was a room full of extremely attractive women and Marluxia couldn't bring himself to do anything about it except cower in front of them.

"Oh, you're French, ain't ya?" she said, standing up straight. He just nodded, not bothering to explain the Cajun story to her. The woman turned to the group behind her and smiled. "Well let's make her feel at home!" The girls all nodded excitedly and began going through the dress racks and vanities. Marluxia felt himself pale and scooted back more.

"E-eh, je pense il y a eu une erreur."

"Honey, I can't understand one word you're saying."

"She said she thinks there's been a mistake," said one girl from the dress rack.

"Aw, everyone feels that way. But believe me, the pay is great," the woman said, winking at Marluxia. He grinned nervously and swallowed.

"Non, vraiment. Je ne suis pas supposé pour être ici."

"She said that she isn't supposed to be here," the girl from the dress rack said.

"And why not?" the woman asked, putting her hands back on her hips.

"I-I'm not a girl," Marluxia finally said in his regular voice. All the girls stopped moving and stared at him in shock. He looked at each of them and lowered his head. "I'm a guy."

"Oh really…" the woman said, beginning to crack her knuckles threateningly.

"No! Not like that!" he exclaimed, putting his hands up and stepping back until he was at a wall. "I was pretending to be a girl so my partner could get into the ship. We're trying to get a deal with Dallas Wilburn!"

The woman stopped cracking her knuckles and stood up straight. "What kind of deal?"

"Our boss told us to try to find the Devil's Eye, but we're not from around here so it's been difficult trying to get it. Then someone told us Dallas might be able to help," Marluxia explained, happy that it was close enough to the truth.

"Aw, you're one of those treasure hunters, aren't you?"

"Not really. This isn't for profit by any means. It's more…private business. But we're not being paid for this at all. In fact, I really didn't want to do this."

There was a long silence before the woman walked over to the group and they began whispering to each other, peeking over to him every now and again. Finally, the woman walked back over to him and smiled. "Alright, we'll help you, but only if we get something out of it."

"Anything within reason," Marluxia said, obviously relieved.

"Well, we've all really wanted to get out of this disgusting place, but Dallas ain't letting us have any of it. Sure, we get paid well, but only to do his dirty work. If you can snuff Dallas somehow, we'll get you to the Devil's Eye, no problem."

"Snuff him?"

"Y'know, _kill_ him? Doesn't matter if you just drop him off on some island out here. Just get rid of him somehow so we can get out."

Marluxia thought it over for a moment, and then grinned. "You have yourself a deal." He held out his hand and the woman shook it, a smile plastered on her beautiful face.

"Good, and my name is Mary Warren. I'm thinkin' your name ain't really Lumaria, is it?"

"No, it's Marluxia. Close enough I guess.

"Can I just call you Marly?"

"Hah, yeah. Now, what am I supposed to do?"

Mary snickered and turned back to the girls who giggled as well. She turned to Marluxia and smiled in a very cat-like manner. "You're going to have to dress up a little."

The Assassin paled again. "You don't mean I have to…"

"Ohhh yes," Mary said while laughing.

* * *

Zexion darted over to where Dallas was sitting and waited patiently to the side. The red-haired woman from earlier looked up at him and smiled devilishly, causing him to recoil slightly. She was certainly not the best thing he had seen before. In fact, she looked like a complete maniac.

"Dallas," she wheezed. "You appear to have a guest."

Dallas Wilburn turned his head and smiled up at Zexion, though it looked much more like a sneer. "And who might you be?" he asked in a thick accent.

"My name for now is of no importance. My offer, however, might cater to your interests rather than mine," Zexion said casually, his eyes locked on Dallas's as to make the man intimidated.

"I'm listening," Dallas replied. "Have a seat." He gestured to a wooden folding chair beside him and Zexion sat in it.

"Alright Mr. Wilburn, I'll make this simple. I've been all over the world, being a…treasure hunter if you will. I've collected many fine items, but what interests me now is this so-called Devil's Eye."

The woman next to Dallas sat up and blinked at Zexion as though he was holding the Holy Grail itself. Dallas looked at her and smiled. "What's gotten into you Medusa?"

'_Ah, that's Madame Medusa,_' Zexion thought to himself. The woman certainly lived up to the name in appearance. She looked at him briefly, and then looked at Dallas.

"Oh, nothing at all. Just a little baffled I wasn't the only one with knowledge of the jewel."

Dallas chortled and leaned back. "Apparently you haven't kept up with the news my dear. _Everyone_ in the bayou knows about it. My business probably wouldn't exist if they didn't know. Anyways, back to your offer," he said, looking over to Zexion. "Exactly what do you have in mind?"

"I can offer you a great amount of money in exchange for the Eye. My sponsors are a very prestigious part of the community and I certainly am no stranger to money. My offer will surely be a fair one. All I ask is that I can add the jewel to my personal collection."

"Well sir, as I said, my business thrives on the news of the jewel. There's more foreign treasure hunters in this room than there are locals, and most have made me some fantastic offers. Why Medusa here has even purchased one of my old properties to dig up the darn thing! It'd be a shame to waste her money, wouldn't it?"

"No doubt about it sir," Zexion agreed, lying right through his teeth. "However, I believe my offer can replace all of that work you spent on your business and I'm sure you can refund dear Medusa here a _great_ amount. With the amount I give you, I believe you can retire in a year."

Obviously, the honeyed words Zexion had carefully chosen appeared to be just the right ones to pique Dallas's interests. Medusa, on the other hand, was silently seething in her chair. If she could glare daggers, Zexion would have been a voodoo doll. Yet Dallas seemed thrilled about the offer. "I shall carefully consider your offer, but I need to who I'm dealing with."

"Oh, rest assured Mr. Wilburn, you will find out in due time," Zexion said in his most assuring voice. However, whatever he would say next was suddenly interrupted by the band blaring out next to the stage. Dallas sat up straight, a huge smile on his greasy face.

"Oh wonderful! My favorite part of the night!" He turned to Zexion and laughed. "My friend, you ain't never seen such delights as what you're about to see here this evening."

Zexion looked towards the stage where the curtain rose to a painted backdrop of what appeared to be a large French café. Soon, a line of dancers leapt out of the side and began a line dance. However, at the very end was something that made Zexion nearly faint. Dressed in the same lacey dresses the dancers were wearing was Marluxia, kicking up as high as the rest of them. A large feather was perched on the back of his head, making him look a bit like a peacock. Blush and powder covered his face like a mask and his hair was even powdered and fixed to look as feminine as possible.

"Hot dog!" Dallas chortled. "Look at that lovely piece of work on the end!"

"Oh no…" Zexion muttered, watching as the glittering Assassin danced like he had done it a thousand times before. Zexion did have to admit, Marluxia made a _very_ convincing woman. And by the sounds of the hoots and cheers of the mostly male crowd, he was more convincing to those that didn't know he was just a man in a fancy dress.

Dallas elbowed Zexion's shoulder roughly and pointed at the now pirouetting Marluxia. "Ain't that the prettiest little flower you've ever seen?"

"Oh, that's a flower alright," Zexion said, burying his face in his hands. He looked up for a moment to see that Marluxia was looking directly at him, a sadistic grin on his face. Dallas hooted again and nudged Zexion quickly.

"Hey, is it just me or is she lookin' at you?"

"No, I think she's looking to the left of me," Zexion responded, trying in vain to set Marluxia on fire with his eyes. Instead, the dancing Assassin just seemed to kick higher as if in an attempt to make the situation worse.

For several more torturous minutes, the dance continued until the music slowed and all of the dancers took a bow. They all stood back up and one woman walked to the head of the stage, a glowing smile on her face. "Good evening!" she said, waving her hands at the audience. A low, cheerful murmur of 'good evening' ran through the crowd. She put her hands down and giggled. "I'd like to welcome y'all to the Devil's Lady tonight, and I can tell y'all right now, it's gonna be a great show, ain't that right girls?" She looked behind her and all of the dancers smiled and nodded, including the beaming Marluxia. The girl turned back towards the crowd.

"As you may know, Mr. Dallas Wilburn's been runnin' this boat for a long while, and plenty of good memories have been made in here."

Dallas beamed at everyone and winked at Zexion. The Schemer in question squinted at the dancers, specifically Marluxia. Judging by all of their facial features, something wasn't right. Marluxia seemed far too happy being on the stage than he should have been. However, he remained silent and watched.

"Now we girls would like to take a moment to appreciate what Mr. Wilburn has done for all these years, and we've made him a nice little present to show our appreciation. Dallas, come on down here!" the girl said cheerfully, waving at Dallas as though she was his biggest fan. Dallas let out a loud laugh and stood up, waving at the cheering crowd as though he was royalty. Zexion looked around at the crowd, trying to detect the presence of what was causing the situation to seem dim. He even looked at Madame Medusa who seemed fouler than before. However, she wasn't the cause. He watched with observant eyes as Dallas waltzed down to the stage, cheering at himself. With a leap, he landed on the platform and gave the girl a one-armed hug, grinning at all the dancers and even winking at Marluxia, which caused bile to slowly rise in Zexion's throat. Dallas accepted a small white box from one of the girls and walked to the front of the stage with it.

"Thanks y'all!" he bellowed, shaking the box by his head experimentally. Without the slightest hesitation, he ripped the top off the box and looked inside. His expression went from excited to confused as he pulled out a single large red plume from the box, examining it. He blinked at it and looked at the girls. "What's this?" It was Marluxia who stepped forward, his face now a mask of pure malicious intent. He reached into his bustier and took out a shimmering silver pistol. Not missing a beat, he aimed it at Dallas's forehead and pulled the trigger. Dallas fell backwards, dead before he hit the floor.

A horrified gasp ran through the audience and people stood up, trying to get a better view. Several men began attempting to get onstage, half trying to pull away the body, the other half attempting to grab Marluxia. Zexion could only watch as several men grabbed onto his partner's arms, some trying to get him in a stranglehold. '_What is he waiting for?_' Zexion thought, watching as the Assassin slowly disappeared under a mass of men trying to get at him. There was a sickening crack heard from the pile and the Schemer's jaw dropped. '_No way. He couldn't have been…'_

"Oh my goodness!" a man shouted from the pile, backing away slowly. The other men looked at him, and then back at the pile before they too backed off. In the center of it, Marluxia had successfully twisted one man's arm behind his back, forcing it into a horribly contorted position. He shoved the man onto the stage before standing up and brushing off his skirt. He tapped the toe of one of his boots against the ground and looked at the men with a smirk.

"Who's next?" he asked in his regular voice before leaping at one man who was slowly creeping towards him. Marluxia jumped up and kicked him in the nose before pinning him to the ground, letting a barrage of punches onto the man's face. He jumped back up and struck down three men at once who were attempting to get him as well. By now, the crowd had gone from horrified, to silent, to excited. They watched as Marluxia tore down seven men in just a few minutes. Every move seemed perfectly calculated and exhibited without a hitch. '_I guess he made up for not having his scythe,_' Zexion thought, finding himself slightly enjoying the small and mostly useless battle on stage.

It continued on for a while more until no one else wanted to approach Marluxia who hadn't even broke a sweat. The Assassin turned towards the girls who were all smiling at him. "Alright, I did my half. You do yours."

"Fine by us," one girl said before dashing off the stage, the rest of the dancers following after. Marluxia jumped off the stage and ran towards Zexion.

"They're going to take us to the Devil's Eye!" he yelled. Madame Medusa's eyes widened and she took off after him, screeching something about finding it first. Before a mass of people charged out of the main room, Zexion ran out as fast as he could.

* * *

Onboard the deck, people leaped off the side of the boat, attempting to follow a small wooden boat filled with dancers. Marluxia was already in it with them and waved up to Zexion who leaned over the railing. "Come on, just jump in!"

"I'm not jumping that far down!" Zexion yelled back, feeling the back of his knees tingle at the thought of falling almost twenty feet into a small wooden boat. Marluxia just kept waving.

"Just close your eyes and jump! It's not _that _far!"

Zexion looked around at the mass chaos on the deck and groaned. He took off his sunglasses and tucked them away in his coat pocket before slowly standing up on the railing and closing his eyes. He took a deep breath and jumped off.

Unfortunately, it was neither a boat or a mass of dancers that he landed on, but instead hit the water. The cold murky water encased him and he felt a cold dread and panic erupt through his body and he flailed around, trying to find the surface, yet there wasn't anything above or below him. '_There's no way I can die_,' he thought to himself, feeling his body slowly giving in. '_Nobodies can't die, the just cease to exist…_' His body felt heavier and the water seemed to get warmer, embracing him as his body began to go numb. His eyelids began to shut until he felt two arms wrap around his middle and yank him upwards.

A cold breeze struck him in the face as he was swiftly lunged onto the boat, his head landing on something soft, probably someone's lap. A cough forced its way out of his lungs, bringing up a considerable amount of water with it. He slowly opened his eyes to see Marluxia looming over him, a concerned look on his face. "You okay?"

Zexion made to say something, but no words came out, only a strange rasp. He closed his mouth and sat up, shaking his head and spraying water on several girls in the boat. "Where are we going?" he asked in a strange voice that seemed unfamiliar to him.

"To wherever the Devil's Eye is apparently," Marluxia answered, twisting around in the boat to see exactly where they were being taken. He turned back to the girls rowing and smirked. "You're not taking us to our death, are you?"

"You think we would have let you save him if we wanted you to die?" one of the girls asked, returning the Assassin's smirk. He just snorted and looked at Zexion who had forced himself into an awkward fetal position, his teeth chattering and his eyes closed tightly. Marluxia leaned forward and hesitantly put a hand on the young Schemer's back, finding that spasmodic shivers were running through Zexion's body. "Huh, I can see you don't like swimming much, do you?"

"N-not at all," Zexion stuttered, curling up more to fight the cold that only he could really feel.

"It's not cold at all out here," Marluxia said, looking around at the swampy surroundings. "Actually, it's really humid."

"It's cold to _me_," Zexion snapped, pulling his hands into his sleeves and groaning. Marluxia rolled his eyes and wrapped his arms loosely around the younger boy's shivering form. The Schemer looked up with a poisonous glare directed at Marluxia. "XI, you're touching me."

"Would you like me to stop and let you freeze?"

Zexion stayed silent and observed the heat waves coming off Marluxia's body. He let out a heavy sigh and reluctantly leaned into the embrace. "Alright, just this once."

* * *

Almost a half an hour later, the small boat washed up on the side of a tiny rocky island not too far from the swampy mainland. At the very top of the island were a tall tree and a little well that looked like it hadn't been used in years. One of the girls tied the boat to a small wooden dock coming off the side of the island and gently urged the boys out. "We'll wait right here while you go get it. After all, we owe you."

"Thanks," Marluxia offered while slowly climbing up the rocky side. Zexion let out another wheezing groan and followed him.

After several minutes of climbing, the reached the top where a small hole was naturally carved into the ground by the well. The two looked down the hole where the small amount of natural light barely illuminated a tiny cave. However, a small sparkle could be seen at the far end of the cave that caught both of their attentions. "Alright, how do we get in there?" Marluxia asked, looking at their surroundings for any type of help.

"I believe only a child could possibly get into that cavern. Otherwise, no adult-sized person could achieve such a feat," Zexion answered, ignoring the remaining shivers shooting up his spine.

Marluxia's cerulean eyes flickered for a moment and he looked up at the Schemer. "Hey, you're small. How about you go in there?"

Zexion snorted at the idea. "I am aware that normally I am of below average height and stature, but due to the coats we have been wearing, I am of a more proportionate height and form. I cannot possibly get into that cavern safely."

"Can't you do something with your lexicon to get us in there?"

"It's a lexicon, not a stick of dynamite," Zexion scoffed.

"Okay, so you're saying this is basically impossible," Marluxia sighed, standing up straight and running a hand through his hair, becoming frustrated when he found a tangle. As he was sorting it out, Zexion looked around the small island just as the Assassin had done earlier. He grunted and shook his head.

"Unfortunately, that may be the case. Since your powers have been rendered useless in this world, I believe we may have to return to the ship empty-handed."

"Xemnas is going to kill us when we get back," Marluxia moaned, rubbing his forehead with the palm of his hand.

Zexion rose up to his normal stature and put his hand to his mouth to think. "Not necessarily XI… We could complete more of our mission and retrieve this object once we have thought it out and possibly acquired more assets and abilities to aid us."

"So we could come back later when it better suits us?"

"Precisely," the Schemer affirmed.

"It's still a disappointment," Marluxia said, looking back down into the hole as if it had somehow changed.

"I'm aware of this, as I do not exactly appreciate the idea of an immediate failure. However, we must admit temporary defeat. I believe we will be better suited if we come at a later time."

"…I guess you're right. And it's a shame I had to kill that guy for nothing."

Zexion managed a smirk and lowered his hand. "I thought it was most amusing?"

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

That seemed to put the Graceful Assassin in a much better mood and he began doing a strange skip down the rocky face of the island to the boat. "Alright, we'll come back later."

"Indeed," Zexion said, taking one last wistful look at the hole, the well, and the tree before walking down the side of the hill as well.

* * *

It didn't take long to return to the island that housed the Gummi ship. All of the girls had felt bad that Zexion and Marluxia hadn't been able to get the Devil's Eye but happily expressed their interests in the partners returning to the bayou.

"So what are you girls going to do about the steamboat?" Marluxia asked as he and Zexion exited the boat.

"Aw, we'll try to take it over and at least make it a little more…tasteful," one of the girls answered. "It's not like it can completely go out of business."

"I'm planning on moving upstate," another girl answered.

"What about you two?" Mary Warren asked. "Where are you going from here?"

Marluxia turned to Zexion for the answer who thought about it for a second and shrugged, a small smirk playing on his face. "Would you believe we're going to a jungle?"

Mary snorted and nodded. "Once a treasure hunter, always a treasure hunter, ain't that right?"

"You could say that," Marluxia said, looking to Zexion and savoring the inside joke. "But yeah, we should probably get going. It's a long way to our next destination."

"_Very_ long," Zexion affirmed, starting to walk towards the ship hidden behind the trees.

"Alright, but y'all better come back! We ain't lettin' any other treasure hunters but you touch that Eye, you got it?"

"Absolutely," Marluxia answered, walking behind Zexion up to the ship.

"Oh, and Marly?" Mary quipped suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"You really pull off that skirt," she laughed. He looked down at the frilly and lacy skirt he was wearing and grinned sheepishly.

"Thanks, I'll take that as a compliment." He waved at the girls one last time before walking into the small forest where the Gummi ship rested, ready to take them to the Deep Jungle.


	7. Exigency

Well, this only took me _forever_ to put up! D: I really hit a low point in my writing as far as Kingdom Hearts goes until I finally found my ability to write or something. O.o Arrows and torches are perfectly acceptable to throw at me and/or chase me down. I am so sorry for the wait. Just letting you know I'm not dead!

So, I'm doing something in two parts again. I said I wouldn't but I lied. I just needed to post this in order to move on to the next part. This poor thing was stuck in my flash drive, _begging_ to be set free. So it was cleaned up, edited to my liking, and now is presentable I believe!

And on a side note, I'm all hyped to play 'The World Ends With You'. Anyone else share my sentiments? Just as well, I am WIRED for '358/2' to come out! Yay!

Anyways, without further ado, I present the next chapter. :D

DISCLAIMER: If I owned this, or anything else Squeenix related, all the good games would get 'M' ratings, no doubt!

WARNING: This chapter includes a Marly gigglefit, OOC-LemurCatta!Zexion, some foreshadowing, and a good deal of hanging from cliffs!

* * *

"Deep Jungle is an untouched island paradise covered in a thick jungle that is filled with a great number of strange and wonderful animals," Marluxia read off a paper from Zexion's notebook. His eyes looked down to an etching of a strange gray, black, and white creature with large eyes and a long striped tail. "What the heck is that thing?"

Zexion looked over from his seat where the Xemnas-given coat was laying in his lap. "Oh, that's a ring-tailed lemur."

"It's weird," Marluxia stated, tilting the notebook from side to side. "It looks like a mix between a cat, a monkey, and a raccoon."

"They're very rare and indigenous to that jungle," Zexion said quietly, holding up the coat and looking at the back. "I wonder what this coat is made of…"

Marluxia flipped a page in the notebook so that a picture of a chameleon hanging upside-down from a tree faced him. "I've only been to Deep Jungle once and I never saw any of these things. I saw a couple monkeys, an iguana, and a gigantic cockroach, but that was about it."

"I believe you only skirted along the premises of the island then," Zexion said dully, forcing his arms back into the coat and zipping it up. He flexed his left arm in the coat and carefully watched the fibers surrounding the elbow. "Fascinating…"

Marluxia rolled his eyes and flipped another page. "Are you going to be a fashion designer now?"

"No," Zexion retorted. "I was merely observing the fibers of material in the coat. They're remarkably different from the regular coat fibers. These fibers are made from some fabric I have never seen before."

"Okay, you're not going to be a fashion designer. You're going to work at a fabric store," Marluxia snorted. He read a paragraph of notes before sighing. "Your notes are boring."

"Thank you for your subtle and oh-so creative criticism," the Schemer said while rolling his eyes. He gently tugged on his sleeve and examined it. Then he brought the sleeve up to his nose and sniffed it. "There isn't even a scent on it!"

"Scratch being a fabric store employee. You're going to be a hound," Marluxia said, bursting out laughing and going as far to slap himself in the knee in hysterics.

"XI, has anyone told you that you have the sense of humor of a brick wall?" That just seemed to make Marluxia laughed harder and he covered his face in the notebook to keep his laughter muffled. Zexion grimaced and let go of his sleeve. "Stop laughing on my notebook. You're going to cover it in saliva." Marluxia let out a strange shriek of laughter and began kicking the floor and hitting the side of the chair. Zexion huffed in annoyance and stood up. He grabbed the notebook from Marluxia's face and hit him smartly in the head. That did nothing to keep the Assassin from laughing but seem to make him only laugh harder. "What is so funny?" Zexion snapped.

"You…saliva…bricks!" Marluxia snorted, covering his mouth with one hand and slapping the armrest of the chair with the other. "Hahaha! Lemurs!" he screeched before covering his face with both hands and giggling hysterically.

"I'll just wait until you regain your sanity," the Schemer sighed, sitting down and opening the notebook, frowning when he found a small splatter of fluid on the page with the chameleon on it. "XI, you drooled on the chameleon."

A horrible shriek of laughter escaped Marluxia, rivaling Larxene's insane laughter. He bent over the side of the chair and stopped making noise for a minute, the only sign of life being a quick vibration-like shaking in his back. Zexion watched him for a moment, finding himself a bit worried until Marluxia took in a deep breath and resumed laughing again. "You're reminding me of a hyena," Zexion remarked, using the sleeve of his coat to attempt to wipe away some of the saliva.

"I…hate…hyenas!" Marluxia said between giggles, smacking the poor armrest again and biting some of his fingers on his other hand to contain himself. A quiet beeping coming from the dashboard suddenly interrupted his laughter. Zexion sat the notebook down on the seat and walked over to it, examining the controls and screens. "We are within thirty miles of Deep Jungle."

Marluxia finally began to quiet down until just a few small giggles escaped his mouth. "That's great," he said, another small laugh coming out.

"Glad to see you're regaining what sanity you had left XI," Zexion murmured, sitting back down and resting the notebook in his lap. He went through several pages until he was on the picture of the lemur. "Now as for our next plan of action…we must find the core of the world quickly. I'd like to not waste any time on this mission."

"Can't we rest at some point?" Marluxia asked, finally over his giggle fit and now sliding down into his chair. "We've gone through two worlds and it hasn't even really been a full two days yet. I mean, this place is an island paradise, right?"

"XI, you can't be saying we need to make a vacation out of this," Zexion said, glancing over at the mauve-haired man.

"When was the last time you got a vacation?"

"I don't need to take them, and neither do you."

"This is probably why everyone in the Organization other than the psycho and the brick-head doesn't like to talk to you," Marluxia said off-handedly, looking up at the glass dome of the cockpit.

"Sometimes I wonder why I resist the urge to slap you," Zexion mumbled, flipping a page of the notebook and examining its contents.

"Aw, you don't mean it," the Assassin said, conjuring his best charming smile.

"I mean every word I say, an exception being sarcasm."

There was a long pause before Marluxia sat up straight, sighing wistfully. "It's pretty sad, considering that the weather there is some of the best anywhere, and it's got a perfect white sandy beach…"

Zexion slammed the notebook shut and glared at Marluxia. "Alright, fine, we'll stay there for awhile and relax! Now will you _shut up_ already?"

Marluxia grinned at the fuming Schemer and leaned back again, letting out an over-exaggerated yawn. "Besides, you can go and observe some lemurs or whatever. I'll just lie on the beach with one of those little umbrella drinks and a mango or something."

"I don't believe they serve umbrella drinks at uninhabited islands," Zexion said while seething, the muscles in his arm flexing to throw the notebook at the Assassin's head.

Marluxia completely ignored him and continued musing about the beach. "Y'know, I really wish Xigbar was with us. I always thought he would be good at surfing. Then again, maybe Demyx would be better, seeing as how he can control water and all. Heck, I wish both of them were here."

"You keep wishing that," Zexion murmured, opening the notebook once again and reading its contents.

The very sight of Deep Jungle caused Marluxia to sigh in happiness. "Just look at it Zexion. The ideal spot for a perfect vacation…"

"XI, I never said we were taking a vacation. I said we could relax for awhile," Zexion said, working the controls as to make a good landing.

"Well I'm considering it a vacation."

"That's good for you. Just don't forget we have a job to do."

Marluxia rolled his eyes as the ship began to make its landing. "I know, I know… However, I'm not looking forward to our transformations. I wasn't all too delighted with being a womanly guy last time."

Zexion paused before a short and quiet giggle ran through him. He coughed to stop himself and just managed to look slightly amused. "I can make an attempt to assure you XI; you will not turn into a…woman." The word came out slightly choked with laughter and Marluxia just raised an eyebrow.

"You're…giggling."

"I'm terribly sorry," Zexion snorted, concealing his mouth with a gloved hand. "I'm not entirely sure what has gotten in to me. Perhaps I should just land the ship."

"Yeah, _perhaps_," Marluxia responded, grimacing at the thought of what transformation awaited them.

* * *

The landing was relatively smooth and Zexion managed to land the ship in a thin grove of twisting and winding trees. The ship would be well hidden behind the thickets and labyrinth of branches surrounding it. However, the area wasn't want Zexion worried about. The transformation ended up becoming the largest problem.

Marluxia's transformation went smoothly. And just as he wished, his form was not feminine. Instead, his hair shortened and turned an oaken brown color and his eyes became a greenish-blue shade. His clothes resembled ones worn by members of a safari party. A pith helmet topped his head and a khaki shirt and pants outfit covered the rest of him.

Just after he transformed, Zexion was also enveloped in the mass of white light before disappearing completely. After several moments with no reappearance, Marluxia paused and looked around. "Zexy?"

There was a low growl from somewhere in the ship followed by a strange sort of whimper. "I'm…down here."

Marluxia's eyes slowly lowered until green-blue met bright orange eyes. By his feet was the same small cat-like raccoon creature he had seen in Zexion's notebook beforehand. The creature, apparently called a lemur, blinked up at him, its long, striped tail flicking back and forth. The Assassin gaped at it before finding a smattering of words somewhere in his clouded mind. "Z-Zexion? Are you a…?"

"Yes XI, I'm a…lemur," the creature responded, ears lowering slightly in obvious irritation.

There was a long silence before a booming laugh escaped Marluxia. "I can't believe it! You're a lemur!" Just as before, Marluxia went headfirst into a crazed laughing fit.

"XI, this isn't funny! This is a serious situation!" Zexion screeched, his voice coming out in a strange held-out chirp. The only response he received was more psychotic laughter from Marluxia who was at the point of gasping for breath. Zexion rolled his eyes and began to walk towards the hatch of the Gummi ship. "Let's just get out of here and get this done."

"R-right," Marluxia snorted, following his primate companion.

* * *

Zexion found it was harder to walk on four legs than he had anticipated. He stumbled a little once he touched the ground. He also discovered that if he held his long striped tail high enough, it felt a little easier to walk. Marluxia just walked beside him, a permanent grin on his face that he attempted to conceal with his hands. It was a failed attempt and only managed to irritate the Schemer.

"You know XI, I can see you laughing," he said during their walk to wherever it was that Zexion was going.

"Sorry," the Assassin responded with a grin. "U-um, where are we going?"

Zexion took a tentative sniff of the air. "I smell human not too far off. I believe it's a human camp."

"Pretty good for someone who isn't human," Marluxia laughed.

"Lemurs have very sharp claws and teeth XI. I don't think I would hesitate to dig both into one of your body parts if you persist with the comments."

Yet again, Marluxia raised a hand to his mouth and let out a cough of laughter. In the mean time, Zexion stumbled a little in an attempt to walk correctly. His new body wasn't entirely accustomed to the strange legs of a lemur or the feeling of the jungle floor under his…paws. It certainly wasn't a sanitary experience.

After several minutes, he looked up at Marluxia, specifically the Assassin's shoulder. It seemed like a good resting place and with the size of the new body he could certainly fit. However, asking to sit on Marluxia's shoulder was certainly a downgrade in the Schemer's pride. Yet he was feeling tired and not in the mood to learn how to walk like a lemur. "XI…" he murmured.

"Hm?"

"Can I…" Zexion began, pausing for a moment as though some more genius part of him would completely reconsider. When nothing came, he kept going. "Can I ride on your shoulder?"

There was another awkward pause before a laugh forced its way out of Marluxia. He quickly silenced it, visibly biting his lip to keep his mouth from opening and instead giving him the impression of having an incredibly distorted grin. Therefore, he merely nodded instead of offering a verbal answer. Zexion eagerly jumped onto his companion's shoulder and allowed himself a quick sigh of relief. Marluxia snorted again and looked at Zexion with cobalt eyes. "Is it better up here?"

"Certainly better than the germ breeding ground I was walking on earlier," Zexion responded, wrapping his tail around the back of Marluxia's neck to keep his balance.

"Well," Marluxia began, stepping over a lone raised root. "Just tell me where to go from here."

In response, Zexion sniffed the air again and raised a small hand up, pointing at the forest in front of them. "Keep going this way. The camp is not too far. There should be a river before you get to the bamboo thicket where the camp is located."

"Apparently lemurs make good compasses," Marluxia mused with a grin.

"I'm no better in directions than I was in my normal form XI," Zexion murmured, flicking his tail back and forth and staring into the forest.

"Well, either way, what exactly are we looking for other than people?"

There was a strange hesitant aura emanating from Zexion before he spoke. "For once XI, I'm hardly sure of what to look for. There's much to look through here and we hardly have time to look through all of it."

"And that means?"

"It means…we need help. There must be someone in the camp who has an inkling of what we're looking for. We may have to ask psychological questions to find it, but it's our best chance."

"What exactly are we supposed to ask?"

"That I'm also not sure of. Perhaps we ask if there is anything interesting they find with the jungle? Any oddities?"

"I guess that's as good as anything," Marluxia said, pushing aside a long branch.

"It's the best I can do in my current situation," Zexion said grudgingly, taking a moment to examine one spider-like hand. "At least I still have opposable thumbs."

As they walked in silence, Zexion took the time to observe the forest, trying to identify every sound and movement that he noticed. However, one noise stuck out to him. Deep within the forest was a series of faint chirps that the Schemer could not properly identify. They were high-pitched and irregular, like a fast-paced conversation. However, Zexion found he could almost understand it and he became excited, feeling his tail twitch and his back leg muscles coil as though to pounce.

"Zex, what's wrong?" Marluxia asked, alerting Zexion that the Assassin noticed.

"Nothing…" Zexion said quietly, then reconsidered his answer. "Do you hear anything unusual XI?"

Marluxia paused in his walk and looked around before walking again with a smirk. "Zexion, everything here sounds unusual to me. You're going to have to give me specifics."

"Like some kind of chirping. It's…very odd."

"Is it a bird?"

"Not quite."

"Then I have no clue. I can only hear birds."

"I see," Zexion replied, shutting the conversation off. He brought his tail over to his small hands and absent-mindedly groomed it to keep it still. He barely paid attention to it and instead let his large eyes roam over the trees. The chirping persisted, making him more nervous. '_I suppose my current state is surely shadowing my Nobody state. I cannot recall the last time I felt so many…emotions…'_ he thought to himself, combing his tail quickly.

Suddenly, a loud bang resounded through the forest, quieting all other sounds. Marluxia stopped dead in his tracks, looking around quickly. "What was that?"

"Gunfire," Zexion responded, lowering his tail and sniffing the air. "It's very close. And whoever it was…missed," he finished with a lop-sided grin.

"Is it from the camp?"

"I believe so."

Marluxia hesitantly began walking again, finding himself irrationally nervous. "Zex? Are you sure you want to keep going?"

"Absolutely XI. We have no reason to stop now."

"If you insist…"

"And I do," Zexion replied curtly.

* * *

For a long while, the two traversed the jungle path. Obviously, the time was reaching the mid-afternoon as the humid heat of the jungle became almost unbearable to Marluxia. He panted as he pushed through branches and vines, kicking aside stray roots and ferns. Zexion, on the other hand, was perfectly content with the humidity and heat. He continued clinging to his tail and looking around with half-interest, deducing everything that seemed a mystery.

Another loud bang pierced the air and Marluxia stopped again, feeling as though all the air had been pushed out of him. "That one was closer."

"Then we're almost there," Zexion answered.

"How close?"

A thin black finger pointed forward and Marluxia squinted ahead. A small grin split across his face as long yellow and green bamboo broke through the dark green jungle. The Assassin found himself running up to the bamboo, refraining from doing a dance of victory. He began pushing through the long chutes before a loud bang interrupted him and a bullet whizzed above his head. He stopped dead and paled. Zexion darted behind his head and looked above his hat in fear.

"Mr. Clayton!" a feminine voice bellowed.

"Miss Porter, I was merely trying to keep the camp safe!" an annoyingly suave male voice responded.

"I don't care what you were trying to do! You could have shot a gorilla!" the female shot back, her voice full of scorn.

In the thicket, Marluxia and Zexion looked at each other, silently agreeing not to move. Zexion kept his grip tight on the rim of Marluxia's hat and lowered his head so it was half-buried in Marluxia's hair. The Assassin took a deep breath and whispered as quietly as he could, "Zex, I think you should go in first."

"Are you insane?" Zexion whispered back in surprise.

"No, you're fuzzy and cute and probably a rare animal to them. They'll see that there was no danger and then I can go in."

"But what if I'm too shocking in appearance? What if I get shot at?"

"You have legs. You can run," Marluxia responded coolly.

"Just go in. They'll see a human and trust you instantly," Zexion said, using his most logical tone of voice.

"You're being a coward again."

"No, you are."

"Miss Porter!" the male voice shouted, silencing both Organization members. "There is indeed something in that thicket!"

"Then leave it alone!" the woman shouted back.

The male grumbled under his breath and the two could hear his footsteps approaching the thicket. "What do we do?" Marluxia whispered in panic.

However, there was no time for answer or action as the shoots in front of them violently parted and both found a gun barrel aimed at their faces. Zexion uncharacteristically squeaked in fear and Marluxia let out a shout of surprise.

"A man?" the male holding the gun asked, lowering the barrel much to the duo's relief. The man was tall and broad shouldered, obviously used to carrying himself proudly. He wore an outfit remarkably similar to Marluxia's except with longer pants and no hat. His peppered hair was neatly combed back with a great deal of hair grease. A thin mustache sat above thin lips under a pointed nose and proud eyes. He held the gun with his left hand and pointed it at the ground, looking curiously at the strange pair. "And you are?"

"What's going on?" the female voice shouted again. A young brunette woman dashed out of a tent, dressed in a white tank top and a long brown skirt. Her hair was piled haphazardly on top of her head and wide blue eyes looked at the two in confusion.

"This man was in the thicket," the man responded, his eyes flicking back and forth from the girl to Marluxia. "With that…thing," he said, gesturing with his right hand to Zexion.

"Hey!" Zexion shot back, unable to resist.

"Oh, it's a lemur!" the woman said in delight as though Zexion hadn't just talked.

"A what?" the man asked.

"_Lemur catta_," she said with a certain air of intelligence. "A ring-tailed lemur! I've only read of them. I've never actually seen one!"

"Wait, what?" Marluxia finally asked. There was too much going on at once and it certainly confused him.

"Oh, yes, terribly sorry dear man," the tall man said. "My sincerest apologies. I am Caspar Clayton, expert hunter and guard on this expedition."

"And I am Jane Porter," the woman said, holding out a delicate hand to Marluxia. "My father and I have come here from England to study gorillas!"

Marluxia shook Jane's hand with some confusion, still unsure of the situation. He cleared his throat and nodded. "A pleasure to meet you Miss Porter, as well as Mr. Clayton."

"Indeed," Clayton said, placing his rifle back in its holder. "Now who might you be?"

"Why do you need to know?" Zexion said, glaring at Clayton.

"My, what a chatty beast that is," Clayton remarked.

"Yes, lemurs are known for their chirping and odd noises as such," Jane said swiftly. "Now, sir, your name?"

However, Marluxia was staring at them, bewildered. "You mean you didn't hear him just talk?"

Clayton blinked at him. "Talk? Who? You mean the little beast on your shoulder?"

Zexion growled tightly wound his tail around Marluxia's neck. Marluxia was still a little surprised when he came to his realization. '_I'm the only one that can understand what Zexion is saying! It just sounds like chirps to them!_' He straightened up instantly and forced a grin. "Sorry, I was just playing around. Sad attempt at a joke really."

Clayton gave Marluxia a half-smile as though he was somewhat concerned about the Assassin's sanity. "Ah, a fair jest either way. Now, _your name_?"

"R-right, my name is…" he trailed off, suddenly at a loss for words.

"Aramaeus Lindsey McArthur!" Zexion whispered in Marluxia's ear.

"What?"

"Just say it! It sounds like an explorer name!"

With Clayton and Jane still looking at him as though he was foaming at the mouth, Marluxia laughed hesitantly. "Right, my name is Aramaeus Lindsey McArthur…Esquire."

Obviously, the name left a much better impression on Jane and Clayton than Marluxia had anticipated. Jane's strained look became more relaxed and Clayton let his hand inch away from the gun a little more. He nodded and walked a little closer to the duo. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance Mr. McArthur."

"Please, call me Aramaeus," Marluxia said, obviously playing off his prestigious sounding name. He could almost hear Zexion's eyes rolling.

"Yes, Aramaeus… May I ask what you are doing out in the jungle?"

"Oh, you know… Gathering specimens, doing some…hunting," Marluxia said, grinning at the inside joke.

"Ah, a man after my own heart!" Clayton said, eagerly clapping Marluxia on the shoulder that didn't have a lemur on it. "So you do find thrill in the hunt!"

"Yes sir, I do."

"How long have you been on the island?" Jane asked.

"Say six months," Zexion whispered.

"Six months," Marluxia repeated.

"Oh good! Then you must have seen some gorillas!"

"Uh… Yes! Actually they tore up my camp, which is why I'm out here," Marluxia lied.

"That was pushing it, but alright," Zexion muttered, looking at the camp from above Marluxia's hat.

"Finally! Now we know there _are_ gorillas on this island!" Jane exclaimed, relief visibly washing over her.

"Oh yes, _big_ gorillas," Marluxia added, nodding solemnly. "Two of my men were…dragged into the forest by them."

"XI, you're really pushing it now," Zexion said, bringing his face close to Marluxia's.

Jane peeked around to get a good look at Zexion. She walked up to him and gently scratched under his chin. In response, Zexion let out a strange purr and closed his eyes, his tail twitching in satisfaction. Jane laughed and continued scratching. "May I ask how you found such an _extraordinary_ creature Mr. McArthur?"

"Just found him on a hike one day I suppose. He just hopped up there and didn't leave," the Assassin said, grinning at the strange uncharacteristic reaction Jane was getting from the normally stoic Schemer.

"Have you seen any more of them? Or the gorillas?" Clayton asked, his eyebrows raised in excitement.

"Well, just a few lemurs I suppose. I haven't seen very many gorillas."

Clayton suddenly looked dejected. "How unfortunate. I was really hoping it would speed up our trip."

Jane whirled around, earning a strange chirp of protest from Zexion who did some kind of lemur pout. The woman crossed her arms and huffed. "Mr. Clayton, you know very well we will take as much time as possible to study the gorillas." She turned back to Marluxia who just blinked, still bewildered. "Mr. McArthur, would you care to assist us in finding the gorillas? We can give you an extra tent and I'm sure Daddy wouldn't mind an extra set of hands."

"Say yes!" Zexion demanded.

"Um, alright," Marluxia said, nodding.

"Very well," Jane chirped. She went somewhere within the camp, leaving the duo alone with Clayton who took the time to survey. A smug grin inched onto his face and he leaned forward to Zexion, causing the lemur Schemer to let out a hiss.

"I don't believe the primate needs a tent? Perhaps he would be better off outside tonight."

Zexion backed up on his perch and glared at Clayton. "You're lucky that woman is here. If she wasn't, I'd shred your face off!"

"My, is he a chatty creature," Clayton said off-handedly, looking a little irritated.

"Yes, he has a temper," Marluxia replied. "But I'm not letting him sleep outside. Where I go, he goes."

"Oh how nice, you actually care about my well-being," Zexion snorted.

"Poor Miss Porter," Clayton said dramatically. "She's been working so hard and soon has to clean up after a little monkey."

"I am _not_ a monkey!" Zexion screeched. "Get it right! _Le-mur_!"

"Too bad he doesn't speak English," Clayton snorted. "He's such a conversational little fellow."

Marluxia couldn't help but laugh. "You have no idea."

"Oh boys!" Jane hollered, dashing out of her tent with a huge smile on her face. She came to a halt beside them and grinned. "Daddy said you're more than welcome in our camp. He'll be out to meet you in a moment. He's _most_ interested in the lemur."

"Well at least someone respects me," Zexion scoffed.

"Oh goodness!" a high-pitched male voice shouted from Jane's tent before a short mustached man tottered out. He let out a hoot of joy and ran up to the group, completely ignoring the rest of them and instead standing up on the points of his toes to look at Zexion who in turn backed up. "What a magnificent specimen!"

"A talkative one too," Clayton murmured.

Jane's father completely brushed off the comment and looked at Zexion from side to side. He gently lifted the striped tail and examined it with interest. "Exactly twenty-three stripes. Not one off!"

"What were you expecting?" Zexion asked snidely.

"Shut up," Marluxia snapped, lightly tapping the Schemer on the head.

"And look at these fingers Jane!"

"Oh Daddy, it's amazing! It has opposable thumbs even!" Jane said with an obvious thrill in her voice.

"Yes, all very fascinating," Clayton drawled. "Mr. Porter, shouldn't we be getting ready for dinner? The sun is setting now and I'm sure we don't want to have to deal with the insects like last time."

"I suppose," Jane's father answered, putting down Zexion's hand with disappointment. "Jane darling, can you fire up the stove?"

"Yes Daddy!" Jane replied, dashing over to the stove. With speed that the two Organization members could hardly process, she managed to fit three pots onto the stove and begin cooking. Her father set the small wooden table that was obviously meant for double use as a chemistry laboratory. Clayton walked around the clearing in the thicket, keeping his eyes open for any possible danger, or completely avoiding chores due to laziness. Marluxia walked up to Jane hesitantly.

"Um, Miss Porter? Is there anything we-I mean I can do?"

Jane blushed, put a stray strand of hair behind her ear, and shook her head. "Oh no Mr. McArthur! We have it all taken care of! Just set up your tent as you'd like."

"Where's the tent?"

She pointed off somewhere in the southern direction of the clearing. "Just clear out one of the storage tents. We'll move it around later."

"Alright," Marluxia said, walking where she had pointed.

* * *

Once he had reached his destination, he sighed in irritation. At least six tents filled with barrels and boxes surrounded them. He looked around quickly to make sure no human was within hearing distance before he looked over to Zexion. "What do we do Zex?"

"Pick one and take the storage out, just like Jane said."

"Well I figured that much. I mean what do we do with this camp?"

Zexion let out a sigh and shook his head. "I'm sure we'll figure that out tonight. If I'm correct, lemurs are remotely nocturnal. Of course, they like the day as much as night, but I figure either way, I'll be certainly active tonight."

"That's helpful," Marluxia agreed. "However, why have you been talking like that today? I've never heard you be so impolite…even when you're trying to be impolite."

"I have no idea. I guess I just feel more natural since no one but you can understand me."

"It's kind of funny actually," the Assassin snorted, walking up to one of the tents closest to the wall of bamboo of the thicket. He pulled out a barrel and placed it in front of the tent beside him.

"Do you?"

"Yeah, it's funny hearing you talk like that for once," Marluxia said, taking a box out of the tent.

"Maybe I should do it more often," Zexion grinned, leaping off Marluxia's shoulder and onto one of the lone barrels. From there, he mindlessly groomed his tail and watched his partner stack crates and roll barrels. "Enjoying yourself XI?"

"Immensely," Marluxia snorted sarcastically. "You're lucky you're about the size of a cat or else I'd be making you do this."

"I suppose I am lucky."

"The least you can do is start…scheming or whatever you do."

"You have a point," Zexion said, placing his tail over his bent knees and staring into the thicket in thought.

For a long while, he sat there thinking and Marluxia cleared the tent. When the tent was cleared, Marluxia dug into a crate and retrieved a single bedroll, placing it in the tent. He pushed the flap aside and entered it, taking a moment before poking his head out. "You want to come in?"

"In a moment XI. I believe I have concocted an idea."

"Enlighten me."

Zexion jumped off the barrel and awkwardly walked to the tent, sitting in front of the flap. "If I'm still capable of conjuring illusions, even small ones, we may use these people to our advantage."

"How do you suggest we do that?"

"Lure them into a false sense of security of course," the Schemer replied as though it was the most obvious thing he could say. "If I can possibly do that, it won't be hard to find what we're looking for. Of course, with any opposition, we'll have to take _drastic_ measures." He mulled on the word and looked up at Marluxia with amber eyes.

"You mean kill them."

"Precisely."

"I have no problem with that," Marluxia nodded. "I bet you I can summon my scythe here anyways. They'd be dead before they would even know what hit them."

"I figured you wouldn't have a problem. Despite your fervent show of emotions, you're still a Nobody deep down."

"Yeah, I realize that from time to time, especially when it comes to these situations."

Zexion leaned back and let out a strange purr of satisfaction. "However, I'll still try my plan of illusion first. I'll begin the illusion tonight when they're sleeping so they will wake up in an alternate state of consciousness."

"One completely willing to obey us."

"I'm surprised XI," Zexion said with a grin. "You catch on quickly."

"I told you Zex, I'm not stupid."

"As I have told you before XI, I never said you were."

Marluxia grinned and stepped out of the tent, stretching. "So what do I do when you're doing your thing?"

"Prepare, sleep, explore, I really don't care. Just always be ready in case something goes awry."

"Simple enough," Marluxia answered. "Maybe I should go somewhere and practice with the scythe a little? The last world messed me up."

"A fair enough plan. I would suggest you try to fit in some exploring. What we cannot gain from these people, you may possibly be able to attain."

"I guess I could."

"Very well. Now let's try to fraternize while we can. Whatever sense of security we can give them without an illusion is absolutely precious and essential."

"Right, and you'll do some fraternizing yourself?"

Zexion rolled his eyes and jumped back onto Marluxia's shoulder. "I suppose I can do my part."

"That means no hissing or sounding insulting, even if all you do is chirp," the Assassin said with a grin.

"I thought you said you enjoy it."

"For now, keep it down. It's your plan anyways," Marluxia said, walking back towards the center of the camp.

"Alright, fine," Zexion replied in irritation. "That is, unless that big oaf says something out of line. If he does, he won't have a face in the morning."

Marluxia managed a laugh. "Fine, that's the only exception."

Dinner was a remotely pleasant situation. The newly formed group contented themselves on eating some thick pea soup and crusty bread while Zexion happily indulged on some wild fruits Jane had found the day before on an exploration. While eating, Jane and her father watched Zexion intently as he picked seeds out of a deep purple fruit. Jane laughed and shook her head. "Such a fascinating creature! I never knew lemurs were so precise about their eating habits."

Marluxia uncomfortably swallowed a particularly hard piece of bread and nodded with a grin. "Yeah, he's pretty unique."

"It's a shame we don't have more time on the island," Jane replied wistfully, examining a lone seed Zexion had catapulted across the table. "If we could finish our research on the gorillas, I would be delighted to do some research on the lemur communities."

"What an idea Jane!" her father replied happily. "If we could convince the team to let us stay, I believe we would gain most beneficial results!"

Clayton suddenly slammed his spoon into his bowl and coughed. "That's preposterous Professor! Don't you want to return home _at all_?"

"Mr. Clayton, I am a professional at my work," the Professor replied proudly. "I feel very much so at home on this island. My research is more important to me than returning to my home."

"Agreed," Jane said curtly, dipping some bread into her soup. She turned her attention to Marluxia, ignoring Clayton's angered face. "Mr. McArthur, may I ask what brought you to this island?"

Marluxia bit his lip and looked at Zexion who merely continued hacking the fruit apart. He let out a sigh and shrugged. "I guess you could call it research. I'm particularly interested in the flora of this island. I'm a bit of a botanist back home."

"Good one," murmured Zexion halfway through a large bite of fruit.

"And has your journey proved to be a success?" Jane asked.

Marluxia nodded and pointed to the bamboo. "All of this completely amazes me. I've never seen bamboo grow this tall and in such a group. Next to that, there are flowers here that I don't believe have even been classified!" He could hardly lie about any of that. In truth, he had been deeply impressed and excited by the abundance of plant life on the island.

Jane's father got up and placed the bowl in a makeshift sink that consisted of two barrels sliced in half and filled with water and soap. He bristled his mustache and a glint of excitement filled his eyes. "I assume you've been up at the waterfall area?"

"Waterfall?" Marluxia asked in confusion.

"Oh yes! It's such a delightful area! It's also a pachyderm stomping ground."

"Pachyderm means elephant XI," Zexion said dully. Marluxia just rolled his eyes and grinned at the Professor.

"How far is this place?"

"Just up through the highlands a way. I'm sure you can make it there in a day's time if you leave early enough in the morning."

"Sounds good to me," Marluxia said with excitement, getting up and placing his bowl in the sink as well. "So I should probably get to resting tonight, right?"

Jane nodded with equal thrill. "Absolutely! It's a rather hard journey up there and you'll need your energy. Would you like me to wake you?"

"Oh no, I have my own personal alarm clock," Marluxia joked, jerking a thumb at Zexion who had stuffed the rest of the fruit into his mouth, puffing out his cheeks and making him look quite comical. Zexion blinked at him with wide amber eyes and stood up on four legs, leaping to the ground and huddling around Marluxia's ankles.

"I suppose being nocturnal would make him reliable," the Professor added with a chuckle.

Marluxia nodded, ignoring the brief snort coming from Clayton, followed by a mutter of 'little beast' following it. Zexion apparently heard it too because he let out a quite snarl of disapproval. The Assassin looked down at Zexion and laughed. "You'll wake me up, right?"

"You can wake yourself up. I'm not your mother," Zexion snapped back.

Jane let out a soft laugh. "What did he say?"

"I think it was a yes," Marluxia said with a grin, ignoring Zexion delivering a quick swipe to his ankles with his claws. "Anyways, we'd best be going to bed. We have a long day ahead of us, right?"

"You will. I'll sleep all day," came the response.

"That was another yes."

Jane reached behind a crate and handed Marluxia an unlit lantern, a smile on her face. "Alright. We'll see you tomorrow evening if we don't catch you in the morning."

"Okay, good night Jane," the Assassin tipped a hat to her. He turned to her father and tipped again. "You too Professor." He finally turned to the aggravated-looking Clayton and didn't tip the hat. "Good night Mr. Clayton."

Clayton huffed and took a large bite out of his bread, obviously playing out the theatrics. Marluxia just shrugged and lit the lantern, walking back to his tent with Zexion at his heels.

"You're acting like you can't understand me," Zexion said as Marluxia smoothed out his bedroll, the lantern casting flickering shadows on the canvas of the tent.

"Well what am I supposed to say? That I can understand every word you say? That I can speak lemur?"

"It's better than disregarding everything I say XI."

"I'm not making them think I'm crazy," the Assassin replied, taking off his hat and sliding onto the bedroll. He looked over to Zexion and smirked. "You're acting like the senseless one for once Zex."

"It's this jungle. It's making me…"

"Crazy?"

"That wasn't the word I was going to use. Nevertheless, yes XI, it's making me a tad deranged. I feel more…wild I suppose."

"Well, whatever it is, it'll have to wait until tomorrow," Marluxia said, followed by a loud yawn. "Just sleep or something."

"Very well then," Zexion replied curtly, slipping by the canvas door of the tent and laying on the bedroll, wrapping his tail around himself. "You may turn out the lantern XI."

There was no answer from Marluxia as he leaned over and turned the lantern off, laying back and staring at the top of the tent. "G'night Zex," he murmured tiredly.

"Good night XI," Zexion replied. He stayed awake, listening as a soft snore came from Marluxia. It was followed by several more until the Schemer was sure the Assassin was completely asleep. Zexion tried closing his eyes and sleeping, but no sleep came to him. He had already learned from the first day of the mission that sleeping wasn't a wise choice for him, yet he felt the need for it now after all of the traveling he had done.

Suddenly, his feet twitched without his control. After several seconds, they twitched again. He sat up straight and looked around, biting his lower lip with his pointed canines. Somewhere in the distance, the chorus of chirps and squeaks rose up, causing the feet to twitch again, followed by a tail twitch. "XI," Zexion whispered, getting no answer but snoring. He held onto his tail and looked around, eyes wide. Another chorus of chirps finally got him to stand on four legs and peek out of the canvas flap.

Outside, the world was dark to human eyes, but as light as day to Zexion's well-tuned eyes. He looked around once more before hesitantly stepping out into the small clearing within the circle of storage tents. The jungle noises only got louder once he was out in the clearing, causing him to tense up and twitch more. However, when another chorus of strange but familiar noises rose up, Zexion could no longer hold down the tribal urges within him and he senselessly took off running into the jungle beyond the thicket.

He found that once he was among the vines and trees, running on four legs suddenly became much easier. He somehow learned to completely utilize his tail for balance and soon gained speed and precision. The chirps and squeaks became louder and clearer, drawing him further in until he could no longer tell where he was. However, he didn't care. He just wanted to find the source.

Suddenly, a loud yell echoed through the forest, trilling in its course and sounding more like a battle cry. Zexion managed to halt on a branch, listening intently to the sounds of the jungle. The chirps had silenced and another trilling cry echoed eerily. It almost sounded…human, yet almost demonic at the same time. Zexion looked around the vine-covered portion of the jungle, staring intently into it. Yet he was knocked back when a dark shadow crossed his path, nearly sending him flying off the branch. He let out an unfamiliar screech and scrambled back onto the branch, looking around in panic. The jungle was unusually still and silent, leaving him nearly paralyzed on the branch.

As though nothing had ever happened, the chirps and trills of the jungle animals started again. Zexion blinked and looked around intently, gingerly resuming his original path, whatever path it was. He carefully traversed the ground, finding it somewhat frightening to run along the vines and branches again, lest he get knocked to the ground by some flying creature again. He kept his eyes wide open and sniffed the air, trying to identify any familiar scents.

"Hey!" he heard someone say and he instantly twisted around, looking each way.

"Who's there?" he asked quietly, keeping his head low to the ground.

"Up here!" said the voice. Zexion looked up to the branches above his head and was surprised to see two bright orange eyes peering at him through the darkness. They blinked once before swiftly approaching him. With a soft 'thump', the owner of the eyes landed on the ground. Much to Zexion's rarely used delight, another ring-tailed lemur sat across from him, twitching its tail happily. "Never thought I'd see another lemur on the ground before," it said happily.

"Umm…" was all Zexion could manage.

"Oh, right, sorry. I'm Eos, the matriarch of the Waterfall lemurs," she said, holding out one spider-like hand. Zexion hesitantly took the hand before drawing his back quickly. Eos tilted her head and leaped onto a branch, blinking spastically. "So why are you out here? I've never seen another lemur around here that wasn't in my group."

"I'm…new here," was all he said.

"Oh! Well, what's your name?"

"Zexion," he said quietly.

Eos scratched her head and blinked again. "That's a funny name."

"Your name is quite amusing to me as well."

"You have to be from the south part of the island. That's how they talk around there."

"No, I'm not from there either. I'm not even from this island."

"Whoa!" Eos responded, jumping back down to the ground. "I never knew there were lemurs off this island before! Where are you from?"

"Very…far away," he said, finding no better answer that wouldn't confuse her. He crossed his arms and huffed. "And I'm not a lemur either."

Eos took his tail in her spidery hands and examined it before looking into his ears and picking up his hands. "Funny, you look like one to me."

He swatted her away and let out a hiss. "You're invading my personal space. Moreover, no, I am _not_ a lemur. I'm a man that turned into a lemur."

"A man!" Eos exclaimed, bringing one hand to her white tufted chest. "I've only seen a few, and only one in this forest!"

"Oh?" he asked with half interest, picking an invisible speck of dust off his furry arm and sighing.

"Yes, we call him He-Who-Walks-With-Gorillas. My little brother just calls him Gorilla Man."

Zexion paused in his picking to look at Eos in surprise. In his mind, the gears started turning and he started coming to realizations. He played back the scene on the branch and the trilling cry slowly in his head, pausing mental pictures and deducing silently. Taking a steady breath, he looked over at Eos. "This…man… Does he have some kind of…cry of some sort? Like a yell?"

"Yes! It's his victory cry. He does it all the time. Of course, I don't like it at all. It keeps us all up and scares everyone in the jungle. Yet some of the members of my group don't mind it. They say it makes them feel safe."

Zexion couldn't help but smile, twitching his tail in satisfaction. "Do you know where I can find this…Gorilla Man?"

"He'll be in the Gorilla Highlands. It's like their nesting ground. It's way up in the trees somewhere. I've never been there though. I've only heard of it."

The Schemer quickly sniffed the air and found he had no problem finding the ultimate scent of gorillas. Without another word to the female lemur, Zexion launched himself vertically onto some branches and took off, following the scent down to the line. He heard Eos yell something, but he didn't catch it. Instead, his mind was completely clouded with ideas that perhaps the secret to the core of the world was within the grasp of the Gorilla Man. That, coupled along with the idea that finding the core would ultimately lead him off the island and back into his human form, the idea of catching the Gorilla Man seemed much more beneficial.

The trail was very strong for a good while until Zexion picked up another scent crossing and weaving the other trail. It smelled more…human. His tail flicked in satisfaction. "Good, I believe I've found the Gorilla Man," he snorted, following the human trail with much more fervor than he had before. In time, his feet began moving faster until he was doing a full sprint through the trees, his body in perfect lining with the trail.

However, he failed to notice two acidic yellow eyes keeping up behind him with painful closeness. Even the strange scent eluded him. He continued on his wild chase, panting and breathing in the mixing scents. With his nose to the trail, he barely had time to register the loud snarling growl behind him or the unmistakable movement of a pounce. Zexion turned just in time to see the yellow eyes flash and long canines bared as ebony-black claws extended towards him. There was no time to react until a screaming, trilling battle cry echoed through the forest.

* * *

A.N.: Yus, cliffhanger! Hopefully the next chapter will come _waywayway_ sooner than this one did. DX Cross yer fingers and pray that I get a writing jolt!


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